Sachin, Sunil star in Patna’s victory over U Mumba

PUNE: Raider Sachin and defender Sunil impressed for Patna Pirates as the three-time Pro Kabaddi League champion defeated U Mumba 34-31 in a Season 9 match at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Friday.

Sachin and Sunil were the chief architects of Patna’s victory with 12 and six points respectively. Pirates began the match on a positive note, thanks to Sachin, but U Mumba levelled the score at 3-3 via Ashish (7 points – 5 raid points and 2 tackle points), who alongside Jai Bhagwan (7 raid points) top-scored for his team.

In the ninth minute, Jai came up with a splendid ‘Super Raid’ that was worth four points to help U Mumba move 7-4 ahead. The Mumbai team inflicted the first ‘All Out’ in the 18th minute, holding a five-point (18-13) advantage at the breather.

But, Patna made a comeback at the start of the second half as it reduced U Mumba to just two members on the mat in the 23rd minute. In the following minute, Sachin delivered a four-point raid (2 for removing as many defenders and 2 for the ‘All Out’) to draw parity at 20 all. After trading blows, Pirates extended its lead to three (28-25) points when Sachin sent two U Mumba defenders off the mat in a ‘Do or Die’ raid.

Moments later, Patna inflicted another ‘All Out’, which tilted the match in its favour. U Mumba captured five points in the last 90 seconds, but could not force even a tie. Meanwhile, defending champion Dabang Delhi suffered its sixth successive defeat this season as it went down 40-45 to Jaipur Pink Panthers in the night’s second contest.

Jaipur’s Arjun Deshwal racked up 16 raid points while his partner Rahul Chaudhari (6 raid points) completed 1,000 raid points in Pro Kabaddi history. Ashu Malik (15 points – 13 raid points and 2 tackle points) and skipper Naveen Kumar (12 raid points) starred for Delhi, but received no support from the out-of-form defensive department.

RESULTS: Patna Pirates 34 bt U Mumba 31; Dabang Delhi 40 lost to Jaipur Pink Panthers 45