Pro Kabaddi: U Mumba make it 7 in a row with 27-22 win over Dabang Delhi

The U Mumba players celebrate a point against Dabang Delhi

The team at the top of the table, U Mumba, continued their winning streak with a spectacular come-from-behind 27-22 win over Dabang Delhi. The Dabangs led for most of the match, but U Mumba, as they have done on most occasions, moved up a gear in the final 10 minutes to seal the win.

U Mumba lost their 7^th straight toss this season and were asked to raid first. Shabeer Bapu was the man who broke the duck in the second minute, but Dabang Delhi hit back soon after. Both the teams shared points till the 10^th minute when they were both level at 5 points each in this match, which had an uncharacteristic dull start.

Dabang Delhi pulled away in the 15^th minute when they led 9-6 after Kashiling Adake came back with a successful raid. However, 24-year-old Bhupender Singh came up with the raid of the match as he got 3 Dabang players out to level the score with a super raid.

In the final minute, Anup Kumar was caught by Ravinder Pahal in a super tackle, which gave the team from Delhi a 12-10 lead, which they extended to 14-11 at half-time. Ravinder Pahal starred in the half as he got 5 points for his team, out of which 2 were super tackles. The Mumbai think-tank needed something special to avoid their first loss of the season.

U Mumba come alive after the 30^th minute

In the second half, Dabang Delhi and U Mumba exchanged points as the scoreline read 16-12 in the 25^th minute in Dabang Delhi’s favour. Bhupender Singh came up with a series o successful raids to ensure the team at the top of the table did not fall away too far behind as he made it a 1-point game with 12 minutes to go.

With just 3 defenders left, Dabang Delhi came up with another super tackle as captain Ravinder Pahal took down Bhupender to get his side 2 points as the Dabangs led 21-19 in the 35^th minute. Avnish Kumar Baliyan was caught by the Mumbai defenders as the Dabangs were restricted to just 2 players.

Anup Kumar completed the knockout as he got both the Dabang defenders out in the same raid as U Mumba took the lead (24-21) with 4 minutes to go. Bhaskaran Edachery’s side did not let the lead slip till the end as they sealed out a 7^th consecutive win in Pro Kabaddi with the scoreline reading 22-27 in their favour.

Ravinder Pahal scored 9 points to emerge as the top scorer of the match, albiet in a losing cause. U Mumba have now beaten all the teams in the League as they extend their lead at the top of the table.

Man of the match: Ravinder Pahal