Deshwal shines as Jaipur clinches hard-fought victory over U Mumba

PUNE: An inspired and captivating performance by two teams that left everything on the mat saw the Jaipur Pink Panthers triumph over U Mumba 42-39 at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi in Pune on Monday. Arjun Deshwal’s 15 raid points and Ankush’s 5 tackle points helped it register a hard-fought victory.

A riotous first half kicked off with a flurry of points with both teams exchanging them constantly. Arjun Deshwal’s ‘Super Raid’ on Surinder Singh, Rinku and Jai Bhagwan in the opening minutes put Mumba under pressure. Soon after the Pink Panthers had inflicted the first ‘All Out’ to take a 9-1 lead.

From there U Mumba built its way back into the game. A ‘Super Rais’ by Mumba’s Heidarali Ekrami on Ankush, Rahul Chaudhari, Sahul Kumar drew it closer and then a few minutes from halftime, it got its first ‘All Out’ to draw level at 17-17. A frenzied last minute saw the teams trade points as the Pink Panthers went into the break leading 20-19.

In the second half Mumba’s defenders upped the game and slowly rushed into a huge lead. With another ‘All Out’ looming, the Pink Panthers defenders Ankush and Lucky Sharma thought they had got themselves a super tackle only for Ashish to slip out and inflict another ‘All Out’ as Mumba took a 27-22 lead.

The game, though, was far from over. Jaipur inflicted another ‘All Out’ to retake the lead 34-33 and with five minutes remaining, the game had everyone on edge. In the end, despite U Mumba’s late surge, the Pink Panthers kept moving ahead and eventually walked off the mat as winner of the match.

RESULTS: U Mumba 39 lost to Jaipur Pink Panthers 42; Patna Pirates 41 bt Haryana Steelers 32