Patna Pirates lifted the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi trophy after a nail-biting 31-28 win over Season 2 champions U Mumba. In a nail-biter of a final, Patna Pirates led throughout, but the Mumbai outfit levelled the score in the final minute. However, the Pirates won three points in the dying stages to ensure U Mumba could not defend their crown.
Rohit Kumar amassed 8 points in the match and he was assisted well by Sandeep Narwal’s brilliant all-round effort which got the team 7 points. Mohit Chhillar’s 6 defensive points and Anup Kumar’s 8 raid points went in vain as the Pirates were crowned champions of Season 3.
After three minutes of action, both the teams were level at 2 each, but that was just the lull before the storm. Patna Pirates stunned the defending champions with their attacking play in the next 10 minutes. U Mumba had no answer to the Pirates’ attack as they suffered the first all out of the match in the 7th minute. The Pirates defence led by Sandeep Narwal and brilliant raiding by Rohit Kumar made it 10-2 in their favour.
With Anup Kumar off the mat for the majority of the first half, Rakesh Kumar had to take over the raiding and he reduced the deficit. However, by the 15th minute, Patna extended their lead to 13 points by reducing the defending champions to just 3 men.
However, Mohit Chhillar and substitute Surender Nada brought down Rohit Kumar in a super tackle to spark a revival of sorts for U Mumba. Anup Kumar got 2 more points for his team and the defending champions closed the half trailing by 8 points.
HT: U Mumba 11-19 Patna Pirates
A nail-biting second half
U Mumba had the perfect opportunity to level the score in the second half with Patna down to just 3 men after the restart. However, Sandeep Narwal returned successfully from his raid while Shabeer Bappu was stopped in his tracks as the Pirates stopped the rot and levelled the number of people on the mat. By the 25th minute, Patna had increased their lead to 10 points.
However, it was all U Mumba from there as they went on a 9-2 run, inflicting an all out on the Pirates in the process by the 29th minute. Shabeer Bappu inspired the comeback and Anup Kumar supported him well as Patna’s massive lead was cut short to the delight of the coach of the Mumbai outfit, Bhaskaran Edachery.
With 10 minutes to go, Patna Pirates were leading by just 3 points. Shabeer’s and Anup’s successful raids made it a 1-point game, but Patna Pirates restored their 3-point lead by getting Bappu out in the 35th minute. U Mumba levelled the score in the 39th minute through Anup.
However, that was the closest the defending champions got as Patna Pirates won 3 consecutive points to ensure that they would take the trophy home with them. U Mumba suffered their second final defeat, having lost to Jaipur Pink Panthers in Season 1.
FT: U Mumba 28-31 Patna Pirates
You can relive the final including Patna Pirates’ run to the title, presented by hotstar, below:
