A hard fought contest was what was expected to be dished out by U Mumba and Jaipur Pink Panthers in their game against each other in Bangalore, and that’s exactly what both the teams delivered. However, U Mumba proved to be the better team on the night and ensured that the Panthers didn’t add another win to their streak of three as they won the game 29-23.
Shabeer Bapu who troubled U Mumba in the first game made a comeback to the side but proved to be the weak link that cost the Panthers the match. With Bapu still far away from full fitness, Panthers were always one man short on the mat. For U Mumba, Rakesh Kumar, Anup Kumar and Suresu Kumar all shone bright to help them win their 2nd match against the team from Jaipur in the 4th season.
To kick start the match, Captains Jasvir Singh, and Anup Kumar took the reconnaissance raids but first points came in the form of Ajay Kumar’s and Suresu Kumar’s do or die raids for both the teams. Rann Singh’s ankle hold from the left corner in the 11th minute got the scores level for the Panthers. In the absence of Shabeer Bapu, who wasn’t used for raids due to his hamstring injury, Ajay Kumar stepped up for Panthers and brought the team crucial points in the first half.
The fans who came to see some drama that was expected to take place between the two teams weren’t left disappointed. First, Anup Kumar during his raid stepped behind the centre line and then came back to touch Jasvir Singh. Singh was livid and was only calmed when the points were shared between the teams. The next raid by Rakesh Kumar saw a bit more of drama when the Jaipur captain refused to go out despite a clear toe touch by the U Mumba raider.
Normalcy was restored and competition of top drawer was put on exhibition by both the teams in the minutes leading up to the half-time whistle . Only Rajesh Narwal and Rakesh Kumar rose above the pressure to score important points for the team while their teammates looked gripped by the sheer intensity of the competition. Shabeer Bapu came for a single raid but went back empty handed.
The last raid of the first half saw Anup Kumar get a bonus that was wrongly challenged by the Panthers and resulted in Panthers exhausting all their reviews of the match. There was nothing that separated the two teams in the intense first 20 minutes of the game and it reflected on the scorecard where U Mumba were just one point behind the Jaipur Pink Panthers going into the half time.
Half Time U Mumba 9 Jaipur Pink Panthers 10
Anup Kumar continued the unfinished business and brought the contest to level pegging in the first minute after the break. Rishank Devadiga’s struggle in season 4 continued as he was done in by Amit Hooda’s lunge at him to go back off the court, a place where he has spent a major amount of time in this season. Hooda was at it again and this time, he took the big fish Anup Kumar in U Mumba’s next raid.
What ailed the Panthers on the night was Jasvir’s failures to get the team points through his raids. And as so often is the case, every time the opponents have managed to deny the Panthers’ captain points, they have managed to disturb the Panthers’ composure. Suresu Kumar’s raid gave them two points and the lead bloated up to 4 in favour of U Mumba. More importantly, the Panthers were staring at an All Out which Rakesh Kumar eventually enforced with a vicious tackle on Jasvir Singh.
When the technical timeout was taken with 7 minutes left on the clock, U Mumba had a lead of six and in the context of the game, it was going to be decisive. Rajesh Narwal got the team three points in no time but it was still not going to be enough as U Mumba still managed to be the team in the driver’s seat. Tempers flared again on the court as Rakesh Kumar and Jasvir Singh got into a yelling game which only ended with the Captain of Panthers seeing a green card go against his name.
Once the U Mumba were in a comfortable lead, they dictated terms of the game. The U Mumba raiders killed time while the defenders didn’t go all out on the Panthers’ raiders so as to not concede more than a point. Jasvir Singh stole quick points, but it proved to be a case of too little too late as U Mumba cruised to a well-deserved victory.
