Normalcy resumed for the fans of the reigning champions U Mumba as they got to see their side at the summit of the Pro Kabaddi League table once again. The Patna Pirates made a valiant effort to deny U Mumba pole position, but on the very last day of the league stage, the men from Mumbai pipped Patna to the top spot thanks to a crushing win over basement outfit Dabang Delhi.
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There was an inevitability about the result from the very start, and everyone, perhaps also including some of those involved with Dabang Delhi, couldn’t see the game going any other way. There was also another thing that matched the inevitability of the result, the performance of local boy Rishank Devadiga who once again was the star performer for his side.
Little more than a do-or-die specialist, Rishank’s role in the U Mumba set-up started and ended with a do-or-die raid. The arrival of former Indian skipper, Rakesh Kumar had the potential of curtailing the part that Rishank Devadiga would play this season. However, fate was to have other ideas as Anup Kumar’s departure to play for the Indian National team at the South Asian Games and Shabeer Bapu’s injury opened the door for the young raider to make his mark as the main man for U Mumba.
New record set by Rishank
Rishank Devadiga’s raid points were 8, 7, 10, 8, 6, 7, 10, 5, 14 and 8 in the final ten games of the league stage which U Mumba won setting up a new record in the league. The numbers speak for themselves. Among these ten excellent figures, the first one takes plenty of credit as it came when the chips were down for the defending champions.
The Bengaluru Bulls were out to seek revenge and held a ten-point lead in the game. But Rishank produced five consecutive successful raids, before helping his side to inflict a late all-out on the Bulls that helped them pip them by a point.
In the very next game against the Puneri Paltan, the game was slipping away from U Mumba’s grasp until Rishank Devadiga produced a super raid and turned the game on its head. Rishank’s run of picking up a high five seemed to be coming to an end when the Puneri Paltan took on U Mumba in Mumbai. But once again Devadiga rose to the occasion when it mattered the most to pick up vital late points to earn his side the win.
Rishank making the difference for U Mumba
The signs of this renaissance of sorts were evident much before U Mumba had to put the responsibility on his shoulders. Rishank Devadiga’s influence on U Mumba is summed up by the fact that the two games that they lost this season came when Rishank Devadiga wasn’t at his best. Those two were the only games where Rishank Devadiga had failed to score five points in a game this season. On the flip side, whenever Rishank Devadiga has scored five or more points this season, U Mumba has won every single time.
It’s often the defence of U Mumba that takes all the plaudits, but this season it’s been Rishank Devadiga who has been making the difference for U Mumba as the numbers clearly show and as the skipper of U Mumba acknowledges. “Rishank has been excellent this season. I don’t feel there are words that can do justice to his performance this season. We had high expectation from him this season, but he has surpassed all that quite comfortably. I don’t think he is finished yet. I feel he will be even better in the semi-final and the final. Just watch out for him,” sounded Anup Kumar who didn’t hold back from showering praise on his young raider.
Rishank Devadiga who has found his idols in Anup Kumar and Rakesh Kumar since his childhood has thrived under their company and perhaps it’s time is right for young Rishank to show his two legendary mentors, that he is ready to take the baton forward, not just for U Mumba, but also for India in the years to come.
