U Mumba edged past Tamil Thalaivas 36-32 in a nail-biting Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) match at Tau Devilal Sports Complex in Panchkula, courtesy Abhishek Singh. With the win, Mumbai move to the fourth spot in the points table on Monday.
Both U Mumba and Tamil Thalaivas started their game with defensive approach.
Athul MS got two points in a single raid but V Ajith Kumar pulled up a similar effort to level the scoreline at 5-all. M Abishek successfully tackled Abhishek Singh and Dong Geon Lee in succession but Fazel Atrachali’s quick thinking in reviewing Rahul Chaudhari’s raid, who went into the lobby without a touch in a Super Tackle position, brought U Mumba back into the contest.
Athul again completed a two-point raid to put U Mumba ahead marginally but the raiders and defenders of Tamil Thalaivas kept their calm to level the score at 9-all again.
The match was a roller coaster ride for both the sides but it were Mumbai who had the last laugh.
Before the match at the same venue, table toppers Dabang Delhi maintain their top position in the PKL points table despite going down 33-42 against Bengal Warriors.
It was a contest which saw the top raiders from both the sides — Naveen Kumar and Maninder Singh — up against each other.
While Bengal skipper Maninder starred for his side with a stunning 13 raid points, he faced a tough challenge from Delhi’s young sensation Naveen, who too, delivered his best with 15 raid points. While Maninder enjoyed equal support from Sukesh Hedge (7 points) and Iranian Mohammad Nabibakhsh (5 points), Naveen lacked major support from his teammates even as Chandran Ranjit and Anil Kumar chipped in with a vital six and three points, respectively.
Despite the result, both the teams have already qualified for the PKL play-offs.
(With inputs from IANS)