New Delhi, Aug 5: League leaders U Mumba once again showed their class as they notched up an easy 45-34 win over beating Bengaluru Bulls in a top of the table clash in the inaugural Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League at the Thyagraj stadium here today.
Captain of U Mumba, Anup Thakur and Vishal Mane stole the limelight as they were adjudged star raider and best defender of the match, while Ajay Thakur and captain of Bengaluru side Manjit Chillar tried hard but lack of support from other players didn’t help the team’s cause.
Going into today’s match, both the teams witnessed mixed fortunes. U Mumba crushed hapless Puneri Paltan yesterday while Bengaluru were handed an unexpected defeat by the Pune outfit on Sunday. Initially, both teams started cautiously but it was U Mumba, who once again showed why they are the team to beat in this competition, by packing off their opponent once.
Captain of the Mumbai side Anup Kumar and last match’s hero Shabeer took the centre stage as Mumbai took a comfortable 23-13 lead at the end of the first half. U Mumba came out even stronger in the second half as they managed to score several successful raids besides packing off the entire Bengaluru team.
In the later stages, Bengaluru Bulls tried to stage a comback but it was too little to late for them. U Mumba won extra six points for packing off the entire Bengaluru Bulls team thrice in the match. With this win U Mumba cemented their place at the top while Bengaluru Bulls remained at the second position.
Both U Mumba and Bengaluru Bulls will lock horns with Patna Pirates in Patna leg of the tournament. Meanwhile, Dabang Delhi went down 31-40 to a clinical Jaipur Pink Panthers despite staging a brilliant comeback in the second half. Languishing at the bottom of the table after three successive loses, Delhi were in search for an elusive win to revive their fortunes in the tournament.
On the other side, Bollywood star Abhishek Bacchan-owned franchise had arrived in the city after thrashing Patna Pirates in their previous match in the Kolkata leg. Like their previous matches, Delhi got off to shaky start as the visitors took full advantages of poor defence and blunt attack of the rivals by taking a 16-7 lead. Jasvir Singh of Jaipur Pink Panthers showed brilliant attacking skills as Jaipur outfits packed off the entire Delhi team once.
Attacking duo of Dabang Delhi, Surjeet Narwal and Kashiling Adake tried to inspire the team but a tight Jaipur defence kept others quiet as they took a lead of 21-11 at the end of the first half. Playing in front of a near capacity crowd, Dabang Delhi came out with much better apparoach as they reduced the margin 24-26. But in the last quarter, home team lost the mental and physical battle as Jaipur Pink Panthers dished out a superlative performance both in attack and defence to clinch the tie.
A jubilant Abhisek Bacchan accompanied by Jaya Bacchan, congratulated Jaipur team and thanked the home crowd fro extending their support.Jaipur with this win have climbed up to third place. Delhi will now take on Bengal Warriors against whom they lost previously, in the final match of the Delhi leg tomorrow. Jasvir Singh and Ran Singh stole the limelight with star Raider and best defender awards while Surjeet Narwal and Kashiling Adake showed some fighting abilities for the home side.