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U Mumba extended their lead at the top with a 32-27 win over Patna Pirates on the final day of the Bengaluru leg. The Mumbaikars put up a solid team performance as Anup Kumar, Surender Nada and Rishank Devadiga put the Pirates to the sword to extend their lead at the top. Patna’s path to the semi-finals got tougher as they have just 2 matches to left.
Shabeer Bapu returned for U Mumba on the final day of the Bengaluru leg. But, it was Patna Pirates captain Sandeep Narwal who won the first points of the match with an opportune raid. Sandeep rushed into the Mumbai half and tagged a retreating Anup Kumar in the first minute.
The Pirates extended their lead to 4-0 and reduced the team from Mumbai to just 3 players. The Mumbaikars conjured up a super tackle and that started the comeback for them.
After 12 minutes in the half, U Mumba had inflicted the first all out of the match on Patna Pirates as they led 12-6. However, that did not deter the Pirates, who had reduced Mumbai’s lead to 4 in the 18th minute after Gurvinder Singh and Deepak Narwal returned successfully from their raids.
Anup Kumar was caught in Mumbai’s penultimate raid of the half and after a couple of empty raids, the referee brought the half to a close with the score 12-15 in favour of the table toppers. The Pirates managed to stay in touch with Mumbai after an early onslaught by Anup Kumar’s men.
Anup Kumar brings the game to life in the second half
Surender Nada made a strong ankle hold on Gurvinder Singh to win the first points of the second half for U Mumba in the 23rd minute. However, buoyed by a brilliant defence, the Pirates reduced U Mumba to 4 men by the 26th minute as Mumbai’s lead was cut to 3 (17-14). However, Surender Nada came up with a successful raid as they restored their 5-point lead in the 28th minute.
A timeout was called in the 32nd minute as substitute Vijay Malik shifted the momentum in favour of the Pirates by winning 3 points in his 2 raids as his team trailed U Mumba 18-22. However, Anup Kumar’s raid and stellar defending to tackle Vijay increased the lead for last season’s finalists, U Mumba, to 6 points with 7 minutes to go in the match.
Anup Kumar maintained his run as he almost single-handedly completed another all out on Patna Pirates as Mumbai established a 10-point lead (19-29) with 5 minutes to go in the match. However, Patna Pirates were not going to go down with a fight. Sandeep Narwal and Vijay Malik helped reduce U Mumba to just 3 players with 2 minutes left on the clock as the Pirates trailed by 7 points.
U Mumba’s lead was reduced to just 2 points with 1 minute to go in the match after they suffered an all out. However, after the restart, U Mumba ensured victory by winning 3 points on the trot to end on the winning side with a 32-27 win.
Man of the match: Surender Nada
