Pro Kabaddi League: Mumbai decimate Jaipur, Bengaluru beat Haryana

V Ajith Kumar and Abhishek Singh starred for the victorious team.

Young raider V Ajith Kumar (11 points from 14 raids) and Abhishek Singh (10 points from 22 raids) called the shots in style as U Mumba steamrollered past Jaipur Pink Panthers 37-28 in Match 21 of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 at the Sheraton Grand Whitefield Bengaluru on Thursday.

This was U Mumba’s second win of the Pro Kabaddi League season. For the Jaipur Pink Panthers, Arjun Deshwal was the only shining star as he picked up 14 points but sadly lacked support from his teammates.

U Mumba won the toss and invited Jaipur Pink Panthers to make the first raid. Both the teams started on a cautious note as neither of them tried to take a stronghold of the match in the initial raids.

Jaipur Pink Panthers took a slender lead at 2-1 when Abhishek Singh perished in a do-or-die raid. The Jaipur team continued to hold the lead at 5-4 when Deepak Hooda was tackled but Sultan Fazel Atrachali had to go out of bounds in the melee. U Mumba then turned the tables with a super raid when Ajith Kumar escaped a double thigh hold as they snatched the lead at 7-5.

From then, the Mumbai team never looked back. Ajith Kumar hit a purple patch and picked up raid points at will while he got excellent support from Abhishek Singh in the Pro Kabaddi League encounter. Ajith Kumar hardly put a foot wrong. He was agile, his strategy was spot on and he escaped the defenders’ clutches with ease.

The raider knew his moves to perfection and made sure the Jaipur Pink Panthers’ defence had no answers to his humongous raids. U Mumba inflicted the first all out of the match when Abhishek cornered both the Pink Panthers’ defenders as they stretched their lead to 12-7.

The Jaipur Pink Panthers tried every trick in the book to try and comeback into the match but it was only Arjun Deshwal who was left the lone warrior. He had too much work on his hands to reduce the arrears and a sloppy defence didn’t do any good to Pink Panthers either.

Abhishek took an extraordinary last raid of the first half when he jumped, ran and dodged a thigh hold from Dharmaraj Cheralathan and took another defender on his way to help U Mumba take a healthy 21-12 lead at halftime in the Pro Kabaddi League.

U Mumba continued to be the better team after the restart and inflicted a second all out on Jaipur Pink Panthers at 25-13 when Deepak Hooda couldn’t escape a thigh hold from Rinku and Fazel Atrachali’s clutches. Arjun Deshwal soon brought up his Super 10 when he got a running hand touch on Moshen Maghsoudlou but Jaipur Pink Panthers were off the mark by a mile in the Pro Kabaddi League.

Haryana go down against Bengaluru 

Haryana Steelers fought hard throughout the match but went down 28-42 against Bengaluru Bulls in Pro Kabaddi League Season 8. Vikash Kandola was Haryana's best player in this game with 7 raid points.

The Steelers got off to a good start and took the lead at 4-2 in the opening minutes of the match, however, the Bengaluru Bulls effected an All Out in the 9th minute and took a five-point lead at 10-5. The Steelers tried to fight back, however, the Bulls kept picking up points and kept forging ahead.

Kandola carried out a brilliant raid in the 13th minute, but the Bulls held their lead at 15-8. Bengaluru's Chandran Ranjit picked up some crucial raid points in the last few minutes of the first half as the sides went into the break with the Bulls leading at 19-13. Bengaluru Bulls rode on the momentum and extended their lead in the opening minutes of the second half. Ashish pulled off a fantastic raid in the 29th minute, however, the Bulls led at 27-17.

Moments later, the Bulls carried out another All Out and they took a 13-point lead at 31-18. The Steelers effected a brilliant tackle in the 33rd minute, but the Bulls kept the pressure on their opponents and held on to their lead. Kandola picked up a couple of raid points in the dying minutes of the game, however, the Bulls ensured that they stayed in the lead and eventually walked off the mat as the winners of the match.

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