Rahul Sethpal is the core of Mumbai's defence, says Abhishek Singh

The raider delivered a match-winning performance against the Tamil Thalaivas.

U Mumba's star raider Abhishek Singh has been on song in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 8. He showcased another top-class performance against the Tamil Thalaivas to take his team to the fifth position in the points table.

U Mumba beat the Tamil Thalaivas 35-33 in a close encounter on Saturday's triple-panga night. The Tamil Thalaivas fought valiantly after a dismal first half to make it a close affair in the final minutes. However, Mumbai's defence stood firm, as they walked away with all five points in the race for a playoffs spot.

Abhishek Singh praised his defenders after the match and mentioned the role of Rahul Sethpal in their defence. The defender earned three important points in the match, after returning from an injury. Speaking on his team's performance, Abhishek Singh remarked, "Rahul Sethpal is back and he has made our defence strong. The defence looks stronger now, as we played with great coordination. In the last five minutes of the match, our defensive performance was remarkable, which led to our close victory against Tamil Thalaivas."

The raider scored 10 points for U Mumba, while defenders Rinku and captain Fazel Atrachali notched up three points each. The Tamil Thalaivas' defenders were on top of their game as well. However, certain strategies from Mumbai's raiders took them to victory. Mumbai's raiders avoided going deep inside Thalaivas' half while raiding and instigated the opposition's defence to go for advance tackles.

Strategy against Tamil Thalaivas' defence

Abhishek Singh shed light on this strategy after the match. He stated, "Tamil Thalaivas defence has been very good in the league this season. They mostly do advance tackles to stop raiders. Our coach and captain made the strategy that we should not go too deep while raiding. Thalaivas' defenders would come to do advance tackles and we will break them with our fake movements. We followed this strategy and it helped us gain points. In the second half, we played a bit badly. We made some mistakes, but won the match eventually.

Mumbai's raiders have been performing exceptionally well in Pro Kabaddi League Season 8. Abhishek Singh and V AjithKumar have earned valuable points in every match. However, Abhishek believes there is still room for improvement in their game.

"We play in accordance to the opponent’s defence. Our team is taking it one match at a time. Currently, everything is going well. We are a good team of raiders and defenders and have to improve continuously," concluded Abhishek Singh.

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