Pro Kabaddi League 2019 | Match 43: Patna Pirates vs U Mumba Review | 16th August
Patna Pirates came into Match No. 43 of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 fresh off a win against the UP Yoddha at the Patliputra Sports Complex in Patna. The green army needed to clinch victory to improve their ranking on the team points' table.
On the other hand, the franchise from Mumbai, U Mumba lost their previous match against the Bengal Warriors. It was a close-called affair where both the squads were appreciable.
Read to find out how the battle between Patna Pirates and U Mumba unfolded itself at the Eka Arena by TranStadia in Ahmedabad.
Starting 7s
Patna Pirates: Pardeep Narwal, Jang Kun Lee, Mohammad Esmaeil, Neeraj Kumar, Jaideep, Hadi Oshtorak, Vikas Jaglan
U Mumba: Fazel Atrachali, Arjun Deshwal, Athul MS, Rohit Baliyan, Young Chang Ko, Surender Singh, Sandeep Narwal
Toss
U Mumba won the toss and chose the court.
Record-breaker, Pardeep Narwal opened the account for his squad after stealing a point in his opening raid of the night. In Mumba's first raid, Jaideep dived on Arjun Deshwal's ankles and put his flight to an abrupt halt.
Rohit Baliyan then sneaked into the rival's court and brought a bonus. Both the offense and defense of the Pirates were immaculate since the very first second of the battle, with mainly Hadi and Jaideep thriving.
A review was claimed by Mumbai in the fifth minute, which was deemed successful. A super-tackle on Pardeep by Mumba's defense sent him off the mat for the first time in the encounter, which also brought the score on five each.
In a school-boy mistake by Jang Kun Lee, he stepped inside the lobby and gifted the hand-wrapped two-pointer to their nemesis. An unsuccessful dive on Arjun's ankles sent Mohommad Esmaeil to the bench.
Some unfruitful tackle attempts by the men in green gave U Mumba the lead. Sandeep Narwal took yet another review in the fourteenth minute, which turned out to be unsuccessful. As the battle proceeded, the Pirates had just a single player on the mat. Eventually, the three-time champions suffered their first all-out of the night in the 18th minute.
At half-time, the score, 21-9 was tilted in U Mumba's direction. Despite a strong start, the Pirates, by the end of the first twenty minutes, started turning sluggish and made a bunch of unnecessary mistakes. U Mumba, on the other hand, played in unity and inched ahead with a huge margin.
As the second half commenced, the Pirates bounced back and inflicted a super-tackle on Arjun. A brilliant two-pointer by Esmaeil in his next raid lessened the score difference. Lee, who also gradually started getting back in form, sent Fazel off the mat in his signature raiding style.
Unfortunately enough, Lee got super-tackled by Sandeep in his next raid and was sent to the bench. However, after a brief discussion, the match referees claimed Jang Kun Lee safe and also gifted him a point.
In a jackpot for the Pirates, they inflicted an all-out on the rivals, bringing the score to 26-21, which was until then in Mumba's favour. Arjun Deshwal skillfully scored a two-pointer for his squad in the next raid.
Another two-pointer for Mohammad brought the score difference to just five points. With just one minute left in the encounter, Patna Pirates took a crucial review, which was deemed unsuccessful. In the buzzer raid, Rohit Baliyan performed a super raid and won the match for his team with the score 34-30.
It was a match decided in the last second where both teams played well despite the result. Nonetheless, the unexpected mistakes by Patna's defense in the first half gave U Mumba the lead, which eventually enabled the orange army to clinch the win.
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