U Mumba wins ‘Maharashtra derby'

PUNE: U Mumba edged out Puneri Paltan 34-33 in the second ‘Maharashtra derby’ of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 here on Friday.

In the thriller at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Ashish secured the match-winning point as he came up with a successful raid in a ‘Do or Die situation’ in the last minute. When the teams were locked at 33 points each with only one raid to go, Abinesh Nadarajan, a cover defender who operated as the right corner, made a costly error – he was unsuccessful while trying to tackle Ashish close to the midline.

U Mumba had inflicted a crucial ‘All Out’ in the 38th minute to take a slender 1-point (31-30) lead. At the half-time break, there was nothing to separate as the scorecard read 15 all. Besides Ashish (6 raid points), Guman Singh (13 raid points) and Rinku (4 tackle points) were impressive for the Mumbai side, which silenced the ‘home’ crowd.

Mohit Goyat (13 points – 10 raid points and 3 tackle points) and Aslam Inamdar (8 points – 7 raid points and 1 tackle point) did the bulk of the scoring for the ‘host’, but the young duo was let down by a poor performance from the defensive unit.

Meanwhile, an all-round show from UP Yoddhas helped it defeat Haryana Steelers, whose season has been going from bad to worse. For UP that won by a 40-34 scoreline, Surender Gill (11 raid points) and skipper Pardeep Narwal (9 raid points) were the top contributors.

Manjeet (12 points – 11 raid points and 1 tackle point), substitute K Prapanjan (8 raid points) and Jaideep (6 tackle points) starred, but Haryana did not click as a unit. Despite being down by eight points (12-20) at half-time, Steelers drew parity at one stage in the second period. However, Yoddhas surged ahead again to earn victory.

RESULTS: U Mumba 34 bt Puneri Paltan 33; UP Yoddhas 40 bt Haryana Steelers 34