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Nagpur is the home arena for the Bengaluru Bulls, but Saturday was like a double home stand for the fans as U Mumba featured in the first game versus Dabang Delhi. Noticeably, there was sizeable support for Mumba as they went on to register their second win of the season, winning 36-22 in convincing fashion.
In a battle between the two most expensive buys of the auction, Nitin Tomar's UP Yoddha took on Rohit Kumar's Bengaluru Bulls. In a contest that produced some delightful kabaddi, the Yoddhas notched up their second win to keep up their perfect record while inflicting the Bulls' first loss of the season, winning 32-27.
#1 Injuries galore
Joginder Narwal of U Mumba began an odd run of players going down with injury in the first half of the first match between Dabang and Mumba. As Mumba got Dabang's Sriram out on a raid with 6:10 remaining in the first half, Joginder hurt his right knee as his defence collapsed on the raider. He walked off gingerly and did not return for the night.
On the very next raid, Kashiling Adake was captured by Dabang, but their captain Meraj Sheykh took a blow to his right shin in the process and was seen ambling about for some time before he eventually managed to shake it off. To cap things off, Dabang raider Anand Patil was also forced off with injury when Mumba's Surinder Singh clattered into his face while tackling him. Patil left with a bloody face as the first half came to an end with a spate of injuries.
Not to be left out, the second game of the night had one of its own and it was a big one too. Star raider Rishank Devadiga twisted his right ankle in a bad way on an empty raid in the first half of his side's encounter against the Bengaluru Bulls. He hobbled back to his side of the court after the raid and was subbed off soon after. He was wreaking havoc until then with five points already to his name and his side missed him in the second half.
It will be interesting to see if any of these injuries have any long-term implications as all of these players are vital cogs for their respective teams.
#2 Delhi had a chance to get back in the game and they blew it
After trailing 8-14 at half-time, the Dabangs had staged a bit of a recovery and were within reach of U Mumba at 21-16 with 8:30 left in the game and Mumba having just one man left on the mat facing an All Out while Dabang had six men. That man though was 'Captain Cool' Anup Kumar and when it came to keeping their composure, Anup kept his while Delhi had a brain freeze.
It was Mumba's turn to raid, it was a Do or Die Raid even. Anup managed to get the bonus point, meaning that even without a touch, he was safe and would stay alive and prevent the All Out, but with no revival though. Instead of just letting him return with the bonus and getting him out on the subsequent raid, Dabang inexplicably tried to tackle Anup high up the court and lost two key defenders in the process in right cover Bajirao Hodage and left corner Sunil Kumar.
With the All Out they could have been within 3 points with the score at 22-19, instead that Anup raid saw a Delhi collapse that saw them get All Out in the next 4 minutes and what could have been a 3-point game was suddenly out of sight with Mumba leading 32-16, 4:45 left in the match.
Dabang will be ruing that missed opportunity.
#3 Yoddhas, Bulls encounter provides great action as promised even with key absentees
The Bulls were missing their right corner Ravinder Pahal who was out with a fever. The Yoddhas lost Rishank Devadiga, who had been torching the Bulls up until then, in the first half to injury. Rohit Kumar had another Super 10 to his name and was ably supported by Ajay Kumar. The loss of Rishank hurt the Yoddhas as their attacking options were reduced but Nitin Tomar led the side ably to make sure they finished the second half strongly and make it two wins out of two.
The Bulls did fantastically to comeback after a first half dominated by the Yoddhas. The UP side took full advantage of Pahal's absence in the right corner of the Bulls' defence to plunder points helping them establish early dominance and that area remained a problem all night for the Bulls.
However, with the Bulls struggling and trailing the Yoddhas 10-22 in the second half, their coach Randhir Singh opted to bring in Gurvinder Singh for a key raid with both his top raiders - Rohit and Ajay - already tackled and off the mat. It was a move that paid off handsomely and kick-started the Bulls' comeback in this game.
Going into raid, Gurvinder dealt a swift blow to the Yoddhas taking out two men, one of which was their captain Nitin Tomar, to reduce the arrears and bring the Bulls' deficit to under 10 points at 13-22 as they captured the raider on the Yoddhas' subsequent raid
Rohit then started chipping away and brought the Bulls close to within four points after a fantastic Super Raid that brought his side five points as he got three men out and got two more points for the All Out. The Yoddhas' held firm though to ensure a win in the end which brings us to...
#4 Jeeva dashes Rohit's and Bengaluru's hopes of victory
With the Bulls surging and the game in the balance at 20-24, Rohit Kumar came into raid for the Bulls with the Yoddhas reduced to just four men. But boy does it help when one of those four men is an experienced defender like Jeeva Kumar.
Previously a part of the dominant U Mumba sides, Jeeva playing in the left corner position on this raid produced a superb ankle hold to lock Rohit up and push his side's lead back up to five with just 3:48 left on the clock.
A couple of raids later, with the deficit once again just four points, Jeeva got Rohit yet again. This time playing as the right cover defender Jeeva engineered a swift dash as the Yoddhas' defence converged on Rohit and got the lead to 32-27 with 90 seconds left in the contest to slam the door shut on the Bulls' chances of a comeback.
#5 Renjith produces the moment of the night
When Joginder Narwal left the game with injury, he was replaced by N. Renjith in the left corner position.
Delhi captain Meraj Sheykh had just scored his first point of the match and looked hungry for more as the second half began. The Dabangs had also managed to get U Mumba down to just three men and were sensing an opportunity to inflict more damage. The three men on the mat though were all defenders - Suresh Kumar, Kuldeep and debutant Renjith.
Meraj pinned Renjith in the left corner and attempted a vicious scorpion kick, but the youngster did brilliantly to evade contact. Suresh Kumar, sensing a chance, went in for the tackle, but Meraj saw him coming and evaded him. Kuldeep rushed to help and blocked the Delhi captain's exit, but Meraj brushed past him and instead opted to go around. Renjith was having none of it though as he bust out a superb sprint to meet Meraj just before he crossed the halfway line and usher him out.
With that superb move, Renjith announced his arrival in what was a brilliant debut match for the youngster.
