Pro Kabaddi 2019: U Mumba beat Gujarat Fortunegiants 32-20
Surinder Singh produced a terrific all-round display to ensure U Mumba ended their home leg with a win as they beat Gujarat Fortunegiants 32-20 in VIVO Pro Kabaddi League season 7. Surinder got a high five and made an excellent super raid to lead U Mumba to an impressive victory.
For Gujarat Fortunegiants, this was the first defeat of the season while U Mumba registered their second win in front of their home crowd. Rohit Baliyan made a crucial super raid in the second half which shifted momentum in U Mumba’s favour.
Gujarat Fortunegiants didn’t do much wrong for most of the match but lost to a moment of brilliance from Surinder Singh as they never recovered from his super raid.
It was a closely-contested affair in the first 10 minutes as both teams were tied at 4-4 with little to choose between U Mumba and Gujarat Fortunegiants. Surender picked up two tackle points for U Mumba whereas Rohit Gulia scored two raid points for Gujarat Fortunegiants. Fazal “Sultan” Atrachali marshaled his troops at the back very well for U Mumba
Abhishek Singh made a crucial do-or-die raid in the 15th minute and for a minute it looked the momentum will swing U Mumba’s way. But Gujarat Fortunegiants made a super tackle in the 17th minute to cut down the deficit. Surender Singh had a strong first half for U Mumba as he scored 4 tackle points. At the end of the first half, U Mumba held a slender 9-7 lead.
Gujarat Fortunegiants started the second half with a bang as they forced a super tackle to level the match at 9-9. U Mumba then went on a six-point run as they inflicted an all out to lead 15-9 after 25 minutes. Rohit Baliyan made things worse for Gujarat as he produced a super raid in the 27th minute to give U Mumba 18-10 lead.
Gujarat Fortunegiants came back as they scored four straight points to trail 15-18 and reduced U Mumba to just two men. In the space of a minute U Mumba turned the match on its head as first they forced a super tackle, then Surender Singh came up with a super raid and an all out was inflicted. U Mumba then led 28-15 with less than four minutes to go.
With less than five minutes all Gujarat could do was make an attempt to reduce the margin of defeat to seven. U Mumba, however, were in no mood to relent and didn’t show any signs of complacency.