Captain Anup Kumar and raider Shrikant Jadhav combined to score 14 points as hosts U Mumba defeated Haryana Steelers 38-32 in a Zone A clash of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 5 here on Wednesday.
Haryana Steelers paid for their lacklustre first half performance while their defence also struggled to score crucial points. Vikas Kandola scored nine points for Haryana while Anup scored eight points for the home side.
U Mumba now have 24 points from 10 games and are fourth in Zone A whereas Haryana Steelers are fourth with 23 points from seven games.
Both the teams started the match on equal footing, trading raid and tackle points as it was 2-2 after two minutes. Shrikant made a successful raid in the fifth minute to help the home side get the lead 5-2.
Anup extended U Mumba’s lead to 7-2 with his first successful raid in the sixth minute before Vikas scored two points for Haryana to trail 4-7. Kashiling Adake quickly restored U Mumba’s advantage with a two-point raid in the ninth minute.
U Mumba inflicted the first all out of the match in the 11th minute to lead 15-10 before Shrikant’s three point raide helped it further to 18-10.
Haryana scored three points in five minutes to reduce the deficit to 13-18 in the 15th minute before going into the break at 15-20.
The home team began the second half strongly and led 23-16 after 22 minutes. But Haryana reduced the gap to 22-25 by inflicting an all out in the 24th minute.
Haryana further reduced the gap to just a single point by sending Kashiling to the bench in 25th minute. Deepak Kumar Dahiya made a successful raid in the 29th minute to help the visitors level the scores at 29-29.
Thereafter, U Mumba took control of the game in the next minutes as they scored tackle points to lead 34-30 after 34 minutes. Shrikant scored with a raid point in the 36th minute to help Mumbai extend the lead to 35-30.
U Mumba continued to dominate the proceedings and didn’t allow the Haryana raiders to score points in the final five minutes to romp home in style.
