U Mumba climb to fourth after victory over Haryana Steelers

U Mumba rose to the fourth spot in the vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 7 standings with a 39-33 win over Haryana Steelers at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida on Thursday. Ajinkya Kapre was their best raider on the night and scored nine raid points, while ‘Sultan’ Fazel Atrachali scored eight tackle points.

The two teams didn’t take long to get on the scoreboard and were both in the lead during different stages of the opening quarter. Haryana Steelers were close to inflicting the first All-Out of the game after reducing U Mumba to three men at one point. A Super Tackle by Atrachali though halted Haryana Steelers momentum and brought parity to the scoreline.

Having said that, neither U Mumba nor Haryana Steelers managed to really stamp their authority on the contest as they continued to trade blows for the rest of the half with both defences firmly on top. Atrachali was U Mumba’s most dominant defender and brought up his High 5 before halftime, while Ravi Kumar wasn’t too far behind and had four Tackle Points for Haryana Steelers by the break. However, nothing separated the two sides at the break with the score tied at 15-15.

Haryana Steelers began the second half with a two-point raid by Naveen that reduced U Mumba to just two men on the mat. They then capitalised on their numerical advantage by enforcing the All-Out moments later to open up a 22-18 lead with 16 minutes left to play.

After the reset, U Mumba fought back through their defence and Kapre’s two-point raid that made it all square at 22-22. Kapre then gave U Mumba the lead in his subsequent raid with another two-point effort that made it 24-22 in his side’s favour. U Mumba went on to inflict an All-Out soon after to extend their lead to 28-24 and take control of the match.

The final quarter of the encounter saw Haryana Steelers looking to force their way back into the contest. They had reduced the deficit to two points with a little over three minutes left to play, however, a crucial two-point Do-or-die raid by Dong Geon Lee and some astute defending in the closing stages gave U Mumba the win.

Top Performers:

U Mumba –

Best Raider – Ajinkya Kapre (9 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Fazel Atrachali (8 Tackle Points)

Haryana Steelers –

Best Raider – Vinay (11 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Ravi Kumar (4 Tackle Points)