With the very last raid of a thrilling match, Deepak Niwas Hooda managed to salvage a 35-35 tie for Jaipur Panthers against U Mumba at the Tau Devilal Sports Complex in Panchkula, in a game that will go down in VIVO Pro Kabaddi folklore. Earlier, U Mumba managed to wipe out a seven-point deficit in just two minutes to take the lead in the dying moments of the match but eventually had to settle for a tie courtesy of some magical raiding from Hooda.

Both raiding units were off to a flying start with only one tackle point being scored in the first eight minutes of the contest. Siddharth Desai scored three raid points and Rohit Baliyan contributed two till this point, while for Jaipur Pink Panthers, Deepak Niwas Hooda scored two raid points while Anand Patil and Ajinkya Pawar contributed one each, as the scoreline read 7-5 in U Mumba’s favour. In a spell of two minutes that followed, U Mumba scored four straight points to reduce Jaipur Pink Panthers down to just two men.

Check out the photos from the match here.

With the Super Tackle on, Santhapanaselvam latched onto Desai’s ankle and brought the big raider down to score two points for his team. Then, in a Do-Or-Die situation, defender Amit Kumar came in to raid and executed a perfect Dubki to score the game’s first Super Raid and reduce Jaipur Pink Panthers’ deficit down to just a solitary point.

When the clock expired in the first half, U Mumba were leading 14-12, but finished the half with just three men on the mat.

Jaipur Pink Panthers made their advantage count as Baliyan was tackled out of bounds by Amit Kumar in the second half and Hooda got touches on Atrachali as well as Surender Singh to inflict an All Out on U Mumba, giving the home side a 17-14 lead.

Anand Patil’s two-point raid in a Do-Or-Die situation then reduced U Mumba down to just two men and, yet again, it was captain Hooda who managed to get a two-point raid to inflict a second All Out on U Mumba to give his side a 27-19 lead.

U Mumba brought on two raiders from the bench to overcome the deficit, but Jaipur Pink Panthers continued to do just enough to maintain a sizeable lead. With the score at 32-25 in the 17th minute, Fazel Atrachali finally managed to get his first tackle point of the night with a Block on Pawar and what followed was a sequence of three straight successful raids by Siddharth Desai to reduce Jaipur Pink Panthers’ team on the mat as well their lead down to just two. Dharmaraj Cheralathan’s first tackle point of the night was a big one, as he managed to haul down Hooda and, in the subsequent raid, Desai finished the job with a touch point on Sandeep Dhull to inflict an All Out and give U Mumba a 33-32 lead.

Visit the matchcentre to relive the contest here.

The teams then kept exchanging points through Hooda and Desai before Hooda escaped a tackle attempt from Rana in the final raid of the match to level the scores at 35-35 and earn three points from the game for his side.       

Top performers -

U Mumba

Best Raider: Siddharth Desai (14 Raid Points)

Best Defender: Rohit Rana (5 Tackle Points)

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Best Raider: Deepak Niwas Hooda (11 Raid Points)

Best Defender: Amit Kumar (3 Tackle Points)