PKL 2019, U Mumba vs Dabang Delhi: Delhi and U Mumba's nailbiting affair ends in a stalemate
Dabang Delhi and U Mumba shifted a place up in the points table after ending the 131st PKL 2019 match with a 37-37 tie, which was played at Greater Noida's Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex.
Naveen Kumar, as usual, was the top-scorer of the night with 12 raid points to his name. Abhishek Singh also completed his super ten, courtesy a brilliant game. On the defensive front, Fazel Atrachali did a smashing job by picking up 6 tackle points.
Abhishek Singh started the night only to be sent off the mat by Anil in the blink of an eye, which was followed by a successful raid by Chandran Ranjit of Dabang Delhi.
"Sultan" Fazel Atrachali pinned down young prodigy Naveen Kumar and opened U Mumba's account. Five minutes into the second last match of the league before the playoffs' begin, the Mumbai-based franchise led with 4-3.
Both Mumbai and Delhi had qualified for the playoffs, with the latter owning a first-class ticket to the semi-finals. Under just ten minutes, U Mumba sustained an ill-fated all-out, which put the Dabang's in a seven-point lead.
A review was demanded by Arjun Deshwal, asking for a bonus point, which eventually turned out to be successful. Vijay Malik from Delhi initiated a super-raid, which was challenged by Mumbai's Sandeep Narwal. The review proved helpful for the lagging team as Malik's raid was deemed futile and he was sent off to the bench.
The defence of Delhi was absolutely killer as usual, unlike U Mumba. They played nothing like their previous match, where their defenders squeezed the life out of the Haryana Steelers.
The first half of the fierce battle concluded with the Dabang's in a 24-13 lead. Naveen was just one point away from his super ten, which he was eventually going to complete and break the record of phenomenal Pardeep Narwal.
As expected, Naveen kick-started the second half with a commendable raid and inflicted a superb all-out on the opponents, which also helped him reach the ten-point mark.
Despite a fairytale start, Delhi suffered an ill-fated all-out in the 26th minute, which reduced the massive score difference in their favour to seven points. U Mumba, on the other hand, showed signs of a rapid comeback as Delhi gave away a bunch of free points to them.
With just four minutes left for the clash to end, the Dabang's experienced yet another all-out, which dissolved the score difference in a heartbeat. Simultaneously, Atrachali completed his 2nd continuous high five.
The match which eventually turned into a heart-stopping one towards the end finished itself on a tie at 37-37. The deadlock affected the fate of both the teams greatly.
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