U Mumba erased an eight-point deficit as they staged a brilliant comeback to edge out Bengaluru Bulls 24-23 in the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi.
Anup Kumar had a terrific game for U Mumba as he ended up with 11 points and led his team from the front in the second half.
Bengaluru Bulls drew first blood both in attack and defence as Pawan Kadian scored a raid point and then the defence sent Rishank Devadiga to the bench to lead 2-0 after three minutes.
Anup Kumar opened U Mumba’s account with a bonus point in the fourth minute. Nine empty raids in the first eight minutes meant it was a cagey affair as Bengaluru Bulls led 3-2.
After 10 minutes, it was 4-4 as both teams adopted a cautious approach. Rakesh Kumar was shown a green card in the 12th minute of the game for prompting during a raid. Bengaluru Bulls forced a super tackle in the 13th minute as both teams were level at six points apiece.
With less than three minutes to go, Bengaluru Bulls led 9-7 and managed to revive star raider Rohit Kumar. Rohit Kumar immediately made an impact as he helped inflict the first all out in the 19th minute and Bengaluru Bulls led 14-8 at the interval.
Anup Kumar picked up two points and got rid of key Bulls defender Surendra Nada and Mohit Chhillar as U Mumba made a strong start to the second half. Bengaluru Bulls maintained a five-point lead after 25 minutes as they led 16 11. U Mumba made a strong comeback and inflicted an all-out in the 32nd minute to lead 20-19.
Between 28th and 33rd minute, U Mumba scored nine points whereas Bulls scored mere two as the balance of the game swung in U Mumba’sfavour.
With less than three minutes to go, the Bengaluru Bulls held a slender one-point lead but Anup Kumar scored his ninth raid point to tie the game at 22-22. U Mumba got two tackle points in the space of a minute to lead 24-22 with only 35 seconds left on the clock. Bengaluru Bulls got another raid point but it wasn’t enough as they lost 23-24.
[Source:indianexpress]
