Former champions U Mumba overcame debutants Haryana Steelers 29-28 in a gripping encounter of the fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi league (PKl) at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium here on Sunday.
Kashiling Adake (seven points) and captain Anup Kumar (six) starred for the Mumbai outfit, who were staring at second consecutive defeat following opening-match reversal against hosts Telugu Titans on Friday.
Tacklers Surinder Singh (four) and Joginder Narwal (three) too chipped in with crucial contributions for Mumba.
For the Haryana side, Vikash Khandola (six) and Wazir Singh (six) were the key raiders, while in defence, Surender Nada (five) and Rakesh Kumar Singh (three) played a big role in giving them the four-point lead at half-time.
Mumba started strong, driven by raider Kashiling Adake's power and energy, while the rival raiders struggled. Mumbai took a 7-4 lead but Haryana side fought back and equalised at 8-8.
At the stroke of half-time, Anup Kumar too was touched out by Khandola as Haryana inflicted an all out on Mumbai to lead 15-11 at the end of first 20 minutes of play. In the following event, a big moment of the match arrived when Kashiling gained three touch points to bring his side's deficit to only one. It opened up the game in which until this moment, Haryana seemed to be too strong.
Couple of minutes later, Mumbai forced an all out for Haryana, grabbing a 22-20 lead. later, Wazir and Khandola continued to rattled Mumba while Kashling too did the job for Mumba.
Bulls sail over Telugu Titans
Captain Rohit Kumar inspired Bengaluru Bulls to a comprehensive 31-21 victory over Telugu Titans, who suffered second consecutive loss in three matches in the fifth edition of the Pro Kabaddi league (PKl) here on Sunday.
Rohit, one of the costliest players of the league, bagged as many as 12 points out of his 18 raids which proved decisive at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium. Ajay Kumar (seven points) was another key contributor for Bengaluru.
His counterpart, Rahul Chaudhari, who struggled throughout the match with only four points, became the first player to effect 500 touch points in the history of the PKl. Now his said tally stands at 502.
Captain Rohit sparkled early for Bengaluru, who threatened the home camp by racing to an 8-2 lead. He rattled Telugu with two successive raids that fetched Bengaluru two points each and depleted the hosts. Iranian Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari made a superb raid to make it 4-8 but in the turn, he was caught and Bengaluru forced an all out on Telugu for a 12-5 advantage in the 13th minute.
With Rahul looking a bit tired, Nilesh Salunke stepped up and initiated a recovery operation.
Bengaluru relied more on Rohit and when he failed, the pressure took a toll on the rest of the team.
