There is something about Mumbaikars and their connection with sports. Bearing the non-stop rain, fans made their way to the National Sports Club of India, Mumbai to witness the opening ceremony followed by the two exciting game of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi league season 4 here on Saturday.
After Puneri Paltan edged Telugu Titans to a 28-24 win, U Mumba had an easy outing against Jaipur Pink Panthers, winning 20-12.
On the opening day, Puneri Paltan was up against Telugu Titans. And the players from the teams gave the audience exactly what they came for. Paltan started the game on aggressive note and looked like they meant business. Paltan were leading 3-1 in the fourth minute and were in good rhythm. But Telugu Titans crawled back in contention, superbly tackling Paltan captain Manjeet Chhillar.
The Titans opened their score in the 15th minute, tackling Deepak Hooda. Manjeet then made it 4-2 in the 14th courtesy of a well-executed running leg touch. Both the teams were trading blows as Rahul made sure the Paltan didn't run away with an unassailable lead with a clever hand touch. Hooda found it hard to open his account as he was tackled for a second consecutive time reducing Pune's team to merely three.
In the 9th minute of the game, Paltan were all out and Titans had gained 5 point lead over their opponents. The away team looked on fire and was looking to take the game away from the hosts.
At half-time the score read 12-15 in favour of Titans. Paltans then returned the favour by inflicting more tackles and made the team something to think about in another break. But that was not the end for Paltan. They fought back hard and now the score read 20-18 in favour of the hosts. After a technical time-out the host team looked all charged up.
Manjeet Chhillar showed why he was the captain with a superb tackle on Rahul Chaudhari. With four minutes remaining, Sandeep scored a vital raid point with an outstretched leg to reduce the deficit to just three points.
late on, reviews were flying from the Titan's end and they won most of them except the last one as Pune made it 26-24 with two minutes to go. A frantic Rahul went all in with his raid but was tackled and so was Vinoth to make it 28-24. Experience shone through in the end for the Paltan as they won the opening game of season 4.
Meanwhile, in the second game of the day between Jaipur Pink Panthers and U Mumba, it was the team from Mumbai who beat Jaipur 36-34. Anup Kumar of U Mumba started the proceeding with a bonus point. U Mumba raced off to a solid lead in the beginning of the game. In the 9th minute, Mumbai lead 5-2 and to add more misery on Jaipur, the team was all out in the 15th minute.
The play witnessed a stoppage as U Mumba players were asked to go out due to a technical violation. At stroke of halftime, the hosts were leading 20-12. In 21st minute, the team was all out but this time it was U Mumba.
Shabeer Bapu, who earlier played for Panthers, caused more pain to his old side as the visitors were again all out in the 29th minute. In the end, it was Rakesh Kumar and Shabeer Bapu were the hero for the U Mumba team as they guided the team to win.
On the opening night of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi league, bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Ranbir Kapoor, King of Bollywood — Shah Rukh Khan — and cricketer Virat Kohli were among the attendees to motivate and encourage the players.