PKL 2018: U Mumba beats Bengal Warriors 31-20, Telugu Titans emerges 36-26 winner

U Mumba produced a solid all-round performance to beat Bengal Warriors 31-20 in the first match of the evening, with Telugu Titans producing an equally good all-round performance to beat Jaipur Pink Panthers.

Action during a Pro Kabaddi League match between U Mumba and Bengal Warriors in Visakhapatnam on Saturday.

U Mumba produced a solid all-round performance to beat Bengal Warriors 31-20 in the Inter Zone Challenge Week of Pro Kabaddi Season 6 on Saturday.

The defensive trio of Fazel Atrachali, Surender Singh and Dharmaraj Cheralathan picked up 11 tackle points and tormented Bengal Warriors raiders throughout the match at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

READ: AS IT HAPPENED

Siddharth Desai was the top scoring raider for U Mumba as he scored 7 points. Maninder Singh had a quiet match for Bengal Warriors but still ended up being its top scorer with five raid points.

Both teams’ defence began brightly as they picked up tackle points to get going.

Shikhar Dhawan during a PKL match between U Mumba and Bengal Warriors in Visakhapatnam on Friday.

 

Bengal Warriors held the early advantage as it led 5-2 after five minutes. U Mumba fought back in the next couple of minutes with Rohit Baliyan picking up a few raid points. It was all square at 5-5 after 10 minutes of action.

U Mumba shifted gears, scoring five points in three minutes to lead 10-7. Siddharth then sprung into action and picked up three points in two raids to give U Mumba 15-9 lead at the first half.

The second half began with U Mumba inflicting an all out to extend their lead to 18-10 in the 21st minute.

The Warriors’ star raider Maninder picked up his second point of the match in the 23rd minute as it trailed 12-21. Surender was a rock at the back for U Mumba as he tackled Bengal raiders throughout the match. With less than 10 minutes to go U Mumba led 24-13 and was on course to a comfortable victory.

Bengal Warriors’ raiders couldn’t get their footing throughout the match and with Maninder struggling to get points their fate was sealed early in the second half only.

In the last five minutes of the match, U Mumba showed excellent game management skills and didn’t give many points to Bengal Warriors.

Telugu Titans vs Jaipur Pink Panthers

Thanks to a solid all-round performance, Telugu Titans scored a 10-point win over Jaipur Pink Panthers. The win didn't change Titans' standing in Zone B (4th), while Jaipur remains bottom of Zone A.