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U Mumba suffered their first defeat of the second season of Pro Kabaddi at the hands of Jaipur Pink Panthers, who were dominating in a 35-25 win over the league leaders. The Panthers played as a team and did not let the team from Mumbai any chance to come back in the match as Anup Kumar’s men failed to shine after the coach had named a makeshift starting line-up.
Sonu Narwal rose to the occasion in a do-or-die raid to get the first points of the match. The star for the Panthers this season, Sonu tagged Vishal Mane and Bhupender Singh before stretching to cross the halfway line. Rishank Devadiga halved the deficit in the corresponding raid while Jasvir Singh was caught by the Mumbai defenders as the scores were back on level terms. Rajesh Narwal conjured up two points in two successive raids as the scoreline read 4-4 in the 6th minute in this tight encounter.
After Sonu Narwal was tackled by the Mumbai defenders, the Panthers were reduced to just 3 defenders. However, Rishank Devadiga was caught in a ‘super tackle’ as the defending champions took the lead. The league leaders leveled the score in the 14th minute and had an opportunity for an all out when Jaipur were restricted to just 2 players. However, Anup Kumar failed to return to his half as Jaipur avoided an all out through a sensational tackle by Ran Singh.
Jaipur Pink Panthers took a 4-point and held on to it till the half-time whistle. The team from Mumbai trailed 11-15 at the break as the Panthers kept the league leaders on the leash. Bhaskaran Edachery had, yet again, to give an inspiring team talk to lift his side.
No comeback for Mumbai this time
The second half started with the Panthers on top as they inflicted an all out on Anup Kumar’s side in the 3rd minute by catching Surender Nada after Jasvir Singh had reduced the Mumbaikars to just 1 player. Anup Kumar was caught in the first raid after the revival as Jaipur led Mumbai 24-12. Sonu Narwal helped the Panthers increase their lead even further in the 28th minute.
K Prapanjan for U Mumba won his team a couple of points from his raid, but in a do-or-die raid, Rajesh Narwal fired yet again getting 2 Mumbai players out to restore the Panthers’ 11-point lead. Mumbai reduced that to 9 points in the 34th minute through Rishank Devadiga and a good defensive performance by Vishal Mane.
But, Jaipur did not let the Mumbaikars come back in the match as they shut up shop at the back with Rohit Rana, Prashant Chavan and Kuldeep Singh manning the defence. The final 5 minutes saw both teams exchange points as U Mumba suffered their first defeat of season 2 with the scoreline reading 35-25 at full time. Sonu Narwal and Surender Nada scored 6 points in the match to emerge as the topscorers.
Jaipur Pink Panthers moved to the 4th spot with their 3rd win of the tournament as U Mumba failed to extend their lead at the top of the table giving Telugu Titans a chance to leapfrog them if the Titans beat Puneri Paltan in the final match of the leg.
Man of the match: Sonu Narwal
