U Mumba registered a thumping victory over Puneri Paltan in the Pro Kabaddi League at the Thyagaraj Stadium in Delhi on Monday.
Mumbai, who lead the points table, were simply tremendous as they won 44-28. U Mumba went into the game with a great deal of confidence as they had not lost in the tournament so far. Pune had triumphed in their previous match against Bengaluru Bulls. That win would have raised hopes of another but U Mumba were too good for them on the day.
Throughout the Pro Kabaddi League, U Mumba have attempted to throw their opponents out of gear by dominating from the start. In this match too, they came out in an aggressive manner as they set about trying to dictate terms. Anup Kumar, the U Mumba captain, started off proceedings by scoring a point early on in the game. His side continued to attack and, in a matter of minutes, they led by eight points as the score was 9-1 in their favour.
The boys from Pune were on the back foot and needed to mount attacks of their own. Their skipper Wazir Singh stepped up as he went about trying to reduce the difference in points. Pune clawed their way back into the game as U Mumba began to experience slip ups in defence. The score at the end of the half read 18-17 in U Mumba's favour.
Obviously concerned about the loss in their lead, Mumbai decided to bolster the defence and keep up the attack at the same time. Kumar aided the defence as Shabeer Bapu Sharfudheen and Rishank Devadiga launched aggressive moves into the Pune corner.
The boys from Pune had no answer to both Shafrudheen and Devadiga when they started to attack. The game began to get away from them and it was U Mumba dominating again. Victory was U Mumba's as the wind had been taken out of Pune's sails.
The Best Defender award went to Jeeva Kumar of U Mumba, while teammate Sharfudheen was the Star Raider.
Points Table
1] U Mumba 28 points
2] Bengaluru Bulls 16 points
3] Patna Pirates 11 points
4] Jaipur Pink Panthers 10 points
5] Bengal Warriors 10 points
6] Telugu Titans 9 points
7] Puneri Paltan 8 points
8] Dabang Delhi 8 points
