Fazel Atrachali’s empty raid was greeted with a roar by the U Mumba fans as the captain ran down the clock and took his team to a rousing 39-36 win over UP Yoddha in their ProKabaddi League match at the Balewadi indoor stadium on Wednesday. The Iranian’s guidance brought out the best in fellow defender Surinder Singh and raider Abhishek Singh in a thrilling fightback.
Three 'All-outs', many 'Super-tackles', one 'Super-raid' amidst frayed tempers and flying leaps resulted in an exciting contest. Yoddha was in charge before the defenders cracked under pressure. Three defenders went out in an attempt to stop Abhishek (11 points). Surinder’s bold tackles as right cover earned him six points.
A big roar
The decibel levels rose when the second half started with U Mumba one point behind Yoddha. With two 'All-outs' in an action-packed first half, both squads with quality in their ranks raised the tempo. Yoddha bounced back from four players down, Sachin Kumar managed a 'Super-tackle' and Surinder returned the favour with a crunching 'Super-tackle'.
Shrikant Jadhav and Rishank Devadiga, taking on former U Mumba teammates, did their bit before being overshadowed by the defence when an aggressive Surinder stood out.
Both teams got an 'All-out' early on in the game, U Mumba was pushed into a corner and responded immediately. The Yoddha raiders and catchers worked in tandem right through the first half before losing the plot. Both teams remain in the race for the playoffs.
V. Ajith's heroics saves Tamil Thalaivas
V. Ajith Kumar's heroics ensured Tamil Thalaivas held Puneri Paltan to a 36-36 draw in the second match of the day.
Thalaivas started strong with a string of raid points from Rahul Chaudhari before Pankaj Mohite's 'Super-raid' changed the course of the match. Pune went on to inflict the first 'All-out' on the opposition and take a six-point lead at half-time.
The final 20 witnessed the brilliance of Ajith Kumar, who delayed his team's second 'All-out' single-handedly for five minutes. All four raids followed the same pattern.
Manjeet of Pune came to raid against two Thalaivas players and reduced the side to one man. Then, Ajith went in to raid and bagged a bonus point and revived one man with a touchpoint. In his fifth attempt, he was finally tackled by Amit Kumar as the Chennai-based side suffered another 'All-out'.
Ajith, then, led Thalaivas' revival as he continued to rack up points before it all came down to the final 30 seconds of the match. Nitin Tomar was the last-man-standing for Pune and had gone in to raid with a three-point lead in the home side's favour.
He waited for 25 seconds to make the raid legal and just when he attempted for a bonus, Rahul Chaudhari in the left flank brought him down with an ankle hold and the match ended in a draw.
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