U Mumba beat Jaipur Pink Panthers 36-34 in their opening match of Pro Kabaddi season four in a nail-biting encounter.
Captain, Anup Kumar opened the scoring for U Mumba courtesy a bonus point. His companion Rakesh Kumar made it 3-0 early on with a solid running hand touch. It was a bit weird to see former Mumbai man, Shabeer Bapu in pink this time around. He seemed reluctant to commit himself in the opening minutes. The Panthers scored their first point of the match with an immaculate team tackle on Rishank Devadiga to make it 4-1.
Shabeer finally scored his first point courtesy a bonus point. In a moment of brilliance, Rakesh made a splendid raid as he breezed through Jaipur’s defence to make in 5-2. The Panthers were down to three men as Mumbai were gifted a point and took a 6-2 lead- Tushar Patil made a technical error. Mumbai continued to pile on the pressure as Devadiga made it 7-2 with a running hand touch.
Rakesh then scored an easy raid point and suddenly Jaipur were down to one man. The Panthers did their best to hold on as number 33, Ajay Kumar score two important raid points to make it 9-4. With five minutes remaining, U Mumba finally inflicted an all out to make it 13-5. Jasvir then entered his zone and took out three Mumba defenders in one raid to make it 15-9. Minutes later, he was at the receiving end as Mumba inflicted a super tackle on him to make it 19-10.
HT- U Mumba 20 – Jaipur Pink Panthers 12
Jaipur began the second half in fine fashion inflicting an all out to make it 21-16. Suddenly Mumbai’s lead was down to two and their team to three as Anup failed to score from a do or die raid. New signee, Gurvinder came on for U Mumba with 13 minutes remaining. Rajesh Narwal then scored from a do or die raid to level the scores at 22 apiece. Shabeer Bapu inflicted another all out on the home side as they led for the first time in the match- 26-23 to the visitors.
Anup was sent to the bench again post the all-out courtesy a splendid team tackle. But Rakesh ensured they didn’t fall back by much and scored a vital raid point to make it 24-27. The Panthers were relentless with their defending, not allowing Mumbai’s raiders any kind of leeway. Jasvir then found himself in a do or die raid but was tackled within seconds. Rishank went in to secure a quick raid point and made it 27-28.
Jaipur were down to four men with four minutes remaining. The home team sensed fear and Rishank made it 29-28. Rakesh followed it up with two successful raids and extended the lead to two points. The veteran was in his element. A minute remaining and Jasvir was the lone raider on the mat for Jaipur. He was knocked down and the visitors suffered an all out in the dying seconds of the match.
FT- U Mumba 36- Jaipur Pink Panthers- 34
