U Mumba subdued a strangely out-of-depth Jaipur Pink Panthers 48-24 to mark the Pro Kabaddi League 2018 home leg on a winning note. Fazel Atrachali’s squad played well within themselves, yet were able to dictate terms from start to finish in front of excited fans at the NSCI indoor stadium. The winners top Zone A and can only get sharper from here on.
Abhishek Singh (12), Vinod Kumar (6) and Darshan Kadian (10) shared the limelight in the raid zone and U Mumba opted to rest Siddharth Desai till four minutes before close, replacing captain Fazel who took a breather with the match in the pocket at 43-19. The lanky raider (zero) went out after getting entangled in the JPP defence in the first and only time he went on a raid.
JPP’s Selvamani K. got a taste of teamwork, buried under bodies as the seven did their bit to subdue the JPP raider. Two all-outs in the first half clinched by the home team gave an indication of dominant play. When the rockets went off to signal match end, former U Mumba star and returning to NSCI wearing the pink jersey, contributed only five points from 13 raids.
Abhishek and Vinod were inflow for the host, tagging two players each and slipping out of defenders grasp with ease. Fazel shifted from left cover to centre to envelop a rival raider in an embrace, then showed his shoulder power by pulling down another. JPP trailed 8-28 at the break, unable to get the act together in offence or defence and lost to UM for the second time this season and remain at the bottom in the group.
Score: Zone A --- U Mumba 48 (Abhishek Singh 12) beat Jaipur Pink Panthers 24 (Deepak Hooda 6). Pts: UM (5), JPP (0).
Zone B --- Bengal Warriors 30 (Maninder Singh 6) bt Telugu Titans 25 (Rahul Chaudhari 8).
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