Abhishek Singh was the star for U Mumba as they beat Bengaluru Bulls 46-30 in the Pro Kabaddi League season opener on Wednesday. The U Mumba raider clinched a Super 10 (19 points) and was ably supported by the team’s defence in a statement victory by the season 2 champions.
Pawan Sehrawat had an off day for Bengaluru Bulls who missed a quality third raider to support Chandran Ranjit and Pawan. There were no spectators at the stadium due to the Covid-19 threat but that certainly didn’t take the energy away from the match.
The first raid of the season resulted in a successful tackle on the “high-flyer” Pawan Sehrawat by Harendra Kumar. The first few minutes went on to be dominated by the team from Mumbai with Abhishek Singh picking up important raid points.
The lack of do-or-die raids in the first half was testimony to the high pace with which the match was being played. The Bulls had just one tackle point in the half and they brought in Amit Sheoran.
But that could not stop U Mumba from inflicting another All out in the second minute after the restart. U Mumba’s Ajith Kumar and the pack of defenders ensured the Bulls never narrowed the points gap.
Telugu Titans and Tamil Thalaivas battle to a tie
A spectacular back-and-forth game between the Telugu Titans and Tamil Thalaivas finished with the two teams sharing the spoils after a 40-40 tie in match 2 of the opening day in Bengaluru. Siddharth Desai led the Titans with 11 points, while Manjeet was the star of the show for the Thalaivas, scoring 12 points.
In the first few minutes, the match was a cagey affair, with both teams matching the other blow-for-blow. But a pair of great tackles by Ruturaj Koravi on either side of a raid point by Rajnish helped the Titans reduce the Thailavas down to just three players. They made short work of the remaining men on the mat, inflicting the game’s first All Out to take a 12-6 lead.
The contest returned to being a cautious affair for the next few minutes; however, a Super Raid followed by another successful raid from Manjeet turned the tide in the Thalaivas’ favour, who inflicted an All Out on the Titans to level the score at 20-20.
It remained a tight contest right to the very end when the Titans’ defence came through in the final raid of the game, pinning down Manjeet in a do-or-die situation to help their side earn a draw.
UP Yoddha Put Up A Valiant Fight Lose To Bengal Warriors 38-33
UP Yoddha narrowly missed the winning flight against defending champions Bengal Warriors in their opening game. UP Yoddha started on a slow note but put up a valiant fight towards the end before narrowly losing 38-33 to the Bengal Warriors.
For the Yoddha’s, Pardeep Narwal earned the 8 raid points followed by 5 points from Surender Gill, while captain Nitesh Kumar and Ashu Singh earned 3 tackle points each. UP Yoddha are currently placed 5th on the points table with 1 point to their kitty.
UP Yoddha will play their next match against Patna Pirates on 25th December at 7:30 PM at the Sheraton Grand Whitefield Convention Centre.