U Mumba jumped into third position in the Pro Kabaddi League table on Wednesday, after a thrilling 40-37 win over the Telugu Titans at the Balewadi Sports Complex in Pune.
In the second match of the day - which turned out to be a high-scoring one - a resurgent Tamil Thalaivas held Season 7 champions Bengal Warriors to a 41-41 draw.
The Titans have been struggling to find any kind of rhythm so far this season, managing just one win out of nine matches entering Wednesday’s match against the Mumbai team.
Their star raider Siddharth Desai though hit the right notes to notch up 17 raid and one tackle points to finish as top scorer in the match. Additionally, Titans defender Parvesh Bhainswal picked up eight tackle points. Yet the Titans finished as the losing side.
Ashish came up with an important 12 points through his raiding for U Mumba, while captain Surender Singh and Mohit combined to pick up four tackle points each.
Towards the end of the match, Pranay Rane, a 36th minute substitute for U Mumba came up with six crucial points in raid to help his team win their sixth match in nine games this season.
In the second match, the Thalaivas raced to a 26-14 lead at halftime after picking up eight tackle points in the opening 20 minutes - the Warriors did not manage a single successful tackle.
But the former champions turned the tables in the second half by giving the Thalaivas’ defence no chance through their telling attempts in attack.
The ever-reliable Maninder Singh top-scored for the Warriors with 19 points, and was well supported by the 11 points - nine while raiding and two tackle points - won by Deepak Hooda.
Narender meanwhile scored 15 for the Chennai-based team, and Ajinkya Pawar scored nine.