Siddharth Desai inspires U Mumba to huge victory over Telugu Titans

Siddharth Desai’s 17 raid points led U Mumba to a commanding 41-20 victory over Telugu Titans in an all-round performance at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Tuesday. The game also saw Rahul Chaudhari become the first raider get to 700 raid points in VIVO Pro Kabaddi.

The opening exchanges of the game were closely fought as both teams matched the other for every point. While Chaudhari got the game’s first point, U Mumba were soon in the ascendency as they increased their lead to 2-3 before a Vishal Bhardwaj-Ankle Hold on Abolfazl Maghsodloumahali bought Telugu Titans level in the 4^th minute. Telugu Titans then responded and pulled off three successive points to increase their lead.

Check out the photos from the match here.

The game was then played on Do-or-Die raids as Vinod Kumar first got Anil Kumar to reduce the deficit before Abolfazl leveled the scores at 6-6 in the 11^th minute with a touch point on Bhardwaj. U Mumba regained the lead as Dharmaraj Cheralathan got an Ankle Hold on Chaudhari off another Do-or-Die raid.  

U Mumba continued their rise as a single Thigh Hold by Fazel Atrachali on Armaan reduced Telugu Titans to a solitary player. Desai then got a touch on Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan in the 15^th minute to get the game’s first All-Out. This increased U Mumba’s lead to six points with the scores at 13-7. Chaudhari ended the half on 698 VIVO Pro Kabaddi raid points courtesy a bonus before Desai got a touch on Sombir to end the half 17-12 in U Mumba’s favour.

The second half started in dramatic fashion as Desai got the game’s first Super Raid with the first raid of the half getting touches on Bhardwaj, Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari and Chaudhari, thereby completing his Super 10 in the process.

The first Super Tackle of the match followed in the 2^nd minute of the second half with a superb chest hold by Milaghardan on Desai to reduce Telugu Titans’ deficit to 6 points. Desai then got a touch on Milaghardan to reduce Telugu Titans to one player on the mat. An Atrachali tackle on Anil Kumar helped U Mumba inflict their second All-Out of the night in the 6^th minute with the score reading 25-16. Desai then got touches on Bhardwaj and Anil Kumar to increase U Mumba’s lead to 27-16.

Chaudhari became the first player to 700 VIVO Pro Kabaddi raid points with a touch on Surender Singh in the 8^th minute with the score reading 28-18. Darshan Kadian got his first points off the season when he got touches on Bhardwaj and Mohsen. He followed it up with a touch on Milaghardan off a Do-or-Die raid in the 13^th minute. Anil was then pushed out of the mat by Rohit Rana to give U Mumba their 3^rd All-Out off the game in the 13^th minute to take the score to 36-18.  

Visit the matchcentre to relive the contest here.

U Mumba only increased their lead from there as Desai got a touch on Nilesh Salunke before Atrachali got thigh holds on Armaan and Salunke off successive Telugu Titans’ raids to increase their score to 40-19. An Ankle Hold by Abhishek Singh gave U Mumba their final point of the match as the game finished 41-20 in U Mumba’s favour; the 20 points scored by Telugu Titans being the lowest scored by any team this season.