Patna Pirates displayed great teamwork to pull off a stunning 40-26 victory over defending champions U Mumba in a lop-sided match of the third season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi league here on Saturday.
Despite losing their star raider Rohit Kumar and captain Gurpreet when he successfully tackled Rakesh Kumar early in the second half, the Pirates held their nerves to emerge as victories. This was their first success over their rivals in two years.
The onslaught started with Rajesh Mondal responding with a four-point super raid to Anup Kumar’s three-pointer. Even then U Mumba enjoyed a good 8-6 lead.
But a sudden change saw Pradeep Narwal score two in a raid that led to an all-out in the 9th minute of play. From there, it was only one-way traffic as the champions lost inch by inch every passing moment.
Patna’s target was to nullify the rival defence, especially the corner duo of Mohit Chhillar and Surendra Nada and once that objective was achieved, the champions literally crumbled making the result evident with a 20-11 lead at half-time. Rajesh Mondal who was to return a haul of 8 points with Pradeep Narwal (8) was at the forefront in attack.