Bangalore: Having already booked a semi-final spot, U Mumba packed another punch in their last league game as they edged past Puneri Paltans 36-35 in the Star Sports Pro Kabbadi League at the Kanteerava Indoor Stadium here on Wednesday.
Mumbai gained five points, taking their tally to 51 in an inconsequential last match against Puneri, who remained right at the bottom of the pointstable. The crowd though witnessed a nail-baiting contest, right from the beginning to the end of the match, when Mumbai keeping their cool brought down the man of the match Wazir Singh (Puneri Paltans) to pocket the winning point and the match.
The first half also belonged to Mumbai, who led 23-21 at half time over Pune. Star performers for Mumbai were Anup Kumar and Rishank Devadiga, who scored ten points and eight points respectively, and Surender Nada scored eight points, six coming through his tackles.
Pawan Kumar and Mohit Chillar also played their part for Mumbai. For Puneri Paltans, Manoj Kumar (10) and Wazir Singh (9) were the main scorer, but their efforts were not enough for their side, who lost by one point.
Down right from the beginning of the match, Paltans raced past the strong Mumbai team after Wazir fetched three vital raid points.
Maintaining the tempo further, Manoj bagged two more raid points for Pune, taking his team to an 8-6 lead. However, Anup Kumar of Mumbai brought his team back into the reckoning by gaining three raid points, taking the score to 10-9. Nevertheless, Pune came back and crafted an allout after their defenders tackled Surender Nada - the score reading 14-11.
Mumbai's constant raids and tackles brought them on par with 21 points each after they scripted an allout, taking sweet revenge.
Bengaluru Bulls overwhelmed table-toppers Jaipur Pink Panthers 30-29 in a nail-biting match to move into the semi-finals. The hosts, who ended their league campaign scoring 51 points in 14 matches, will play fourth-placed Patna Pirates (45) on August 29 in Mumbai.
While Bulls were good at notching 22 raid points compared to Jaipur's 17, the visitors gained ten points compared to Bulls' six through tackles. Ajay Thakur, Deepak Kumar and Manjit Chillar played their hearts out to ensure victory for the hosts.
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