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Telugu Titans and U Mumba clashed in the 16th match of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. The two teams had won all their matches so far this season and something had to give and it did. U Mumba beat Telugu Titans 27-26 in a closely-fought encounter between the two heavyweights.
In this titanic clash, the first points of the match went to Telugu Titans, who pushed star raider Shabeer Bapu out of the mat. With the match tied at 2-2 after 5 minutes, Mumbai youngster Rishank Devadiga put some breathing space between the two teams by tagging 2 Telugu Titans players.
U Mumba were leading 5-2 after the 6th minute and that is precisely when the Titans showed their quality. They went on a 11-1 run, getting their opponents from Maharashtra all out in the process. With the score 13-6 in favour of the team from the South, Anup Kumar and the Mumbai defence reduced the Titans lead to just 4 points in the 18th minute.
The Rahul Chaudhari-led team scored 2 more points before the end of the half to establish a healthy 6-point lead. The onus was now on Mumbai coach Bhaskaran Edachery to deliver an inspiring team talk to help his team overcome the deficit.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man – Anup Kumar
Shabeer Bapu was caught in the 2nd minute of the second half, which meant he had 0 points from 9 raids in the match. His counterpart, Rahul Chaudhari, was also having an off day as he failed to get a single raid point throughout the match and also spent most of his time on the bench.
U Mumba slowly reduced Titans’ lead to just 2 points and reduced them to just 1 man in the 32nd minute. Despite being just 1 man away from an all out, Sukesh Hegde delivered the goods, coming back with a super raid to re-instate captain Rahul Chaudhari and another Titan.
With 3 Titans on the field, U Mumba went for another all out and got it this time to make it a 1-point game with 5 minutes left in the match. Anup Kumar ensured Mumbai took the lead, when he tagged 2 Titans players before returning to his half as U Mumba led 25-24 in the 37th minute.
The team from Maharashtra did not relinquish the lead till the end as they emerged victorious with a narrow 27-26 score. Anup Kumar scored 10 points in the match, 9 raid and 1 bonus point as U Mumba won their 6th consecutive match, while Telugu Titans lost their first match of second season after 3 consecutive wins.
Man of the match: Anup Kumar
Buy your Telugu Titans’ home tickets here.
Watch the highlights of the match here.
