Pro Kabaddi 2019, U Mumba vs Haryana Steelers: Complete team effort helps Steelers steal victory from U Mumba
U Mumba were stepping on the mat in Match No. 49 of Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 with a massive morale boost after defeating the three-time champions Patna Pirates. They were looking for a victory to improve their ranking on the team points' table.
Haryana Steelers, coached by the stalwart Rakesh Kumar, lost their previous battle to the Telugu Titans.
Read to find out how the anticipated face-off between Fazel Atrachali's U Mumba and Vikas Kandola's Haryana Steelers unfolded itself at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai.
Arjun Deshwal, from the Mumbai-based franchise, went for the first raid and returned sans any point. Sending out Athul MS with a fierce hand-touch, Prashanth Kumar Rai brought the first point of the night for the Steelers. A brilliant two-pointer by Arjun Deshwal opened the account for Mumba.
Completing his 50 points in the seventh season, young prowess Vikas Kandola's flight proved to be the first super raid of the night, sending Rohit Baliyan, Surinder Singh and Harendra Kumar from the rival's squad to the bench.
In the fast-paced battle, both teams made a bunch of schoolboy errors, giving away easy points to each other. Eventually, U Mumba suffered their first all-out of the night on the 17th minute of the encounter, putting the opponents in a six-point lead.
The first half ended with the score of 16-8 in the Steelers' favour. As the second half commenced, an unsuccessful raid by Vinay gave away two points for the super tackle that Mumbai's defenders inflicted.
U Mumba's defense did an impressive job of catching hold of Haryana's raiders, not allowing them to squirm away even by an inch. A review was claimed by Mumba with just eight minutes remaining, which upon inspection, was deemed unsuccessful. The score after the review was tilted in Haryana's direction at 23-17.
A beautiful super-tackle by Chand Singh sent MS Athul off the mat in seconds. The Fazel-Sandeep duo was thriving, scoring effortless points for their squad. A top-class two-pointer by Sandeep Narwal stunned their nemesis and also reduced them to just a single man.
Conceding their first all-out in the 35th minute of the encounter, the Steelers were still in the lead. After that, the match, which looked one-sided initially, gradually turned into a keenly-fought contest.
The encounter came to an end as Haryana Steelers emerged triumphant with the score 30-27. Kandola, despite his stronger-than-steel efforts, fell short of just a single point of completing his super-ten. U Mumba, despite putting up a commendable show, ended up on the losing side.
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