Singh and Kadian’s Super 10s ensure perfect start to U Mumba’s home leg

U Mumba were at their dominant best in their first home game as they defeated Jaipur Pink Panthers 48-24 at the Dome@NSCI SVP Stadium in Mumbai on Friday. The home team reached the top of Zone A with this win.

U Mumba looked to take control of the match right from the start and took just less than 8 minutes to inflict the first All-Out of the match on Jaipur Pink Panthers on the back of some strong defence by Rohit Rana and captain Fazel Atrachali. Two bonus points, one by Anup Kumar and the other by Nitin Rawal, were all the raid points U Mumba allowed in this period as they took an early 4-point lead.

Check out the photos from the match here.

Darshan Kadian was used as the lead raider by U Mumba early as he put in 8 raids in the half, scoring 5 points without being tackled. But Abhishek Singh soon overtook Kadian in the second part of the half and returned 6 raid points in his 8 raids.

Deepak Hooda took advantage of the high-line U Mumba defence to score 3 raid points in the half but the Jaipur Pink Panthers defence managed just one tackle, on Abhishek Singh in the third minute, which ultimately led to the home side mounting an 18-point lead in the first half at 26-8.

U Mumba managed to eliminate all three Jaipur Pink Panthers players in back-to-back raids to inflict another All-Out on the visitors in the second minute of the second half to increase their lead to 22 points.

Anup Kumar led the Jaipur Pink Panthers offence after the team reassembled and managed to get two touch points and take his team’s points tally to 12. He also managed the team’s second tackle point in this period, sending back Vinod Kumar in his 6^th raid of the night.

Facing another All-Out after being reduced to 3 men in the 9^th minute, Young Chang Ko managed the first Super Tackle of the night on Abhishek Singh before Hooda returned a 2 point raid with touches on Rohit Rana and Vinod Kumar to reduce U Mumba to 4 players on the mat in return.

However, Hooda was sent back to the bench in his next raid and the momentum stayed with the home side. Atrachali managed another High 5 in the 16^th minute with a tackle on Anand Patil to continue his fiery form. Kadian then managed touch points on the two Jaipur Pink Panthers defenders left on the mat to help his team inflict another All-Out in the 17^th minute and get himself a Super 10.

Visit the matchcentre to relive the contest here.

An Anand Patil Super Raid in the 18^th minute followed by successful tackles by Sandeep Dhull on substitute Siddharth Desai and Kadian gave some late success to Jaipur Pink Panthers but they succumbed to a 24-point defeat at the fulltime whistle.

Top Performers -

U Mumba

Best Raider: Abhishek Singh (10 raid points)

Best Defender: Fazel Atrachali (5 tackle points)

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Best Raider: Deepak Hooda (6 raid points)

Best Defender: Sandeep Dhull (3 tackle points)