In an absolutely thrilling encounter, it was Puneri Paltan who held their nerve and composure to beat U Mumba 33-32 in the Maharashtra derby of Pro Kabaddi Season VI.
The game swung like a pendulum in both teams’ favour and it came down to a critical error from Siddharth Desai of U Mumba which gave Puneri Paltan another win.
Nitin Tomar, in the raiding department got 13 points for Pune whereas Girish Ernak got six tackle points. U Mumba almost lived up to the slogan “Saturday Night, U Mumba chi Fight” as they fought till the last minute of the match.
Desai scored 15 points but ultimately would rue his error in the last minute of the match when he stepped off the court.
U Mumba were quicker off the blocks with Desai getting a raid point to give them a 2-0 lead in the second minute. Puneri Paltan’s defence levelled the match in the third minute.
Nitin Tomar scored his first raid point of the match in the eighth minute as Puneri Paltan trailed 4-5. Tomar scored with a two-point raid in the 13th minute to give Pune 10-7 lead. Puneri Paltan inflicted the first all out of the match in the 15th minute to lead 15-9.
Fazel Atrachali had a quiet first half as U Mumba struggled to find a foot in the match. Desai scored a raid point in the 20th minute as U Mumba trailed 12-17 at the end of the first half.
Puneri Paltan dominated the proceedings in the second half as well, as they didn’t allow U Mumba to make a comeback for the majority of the half.
U Mumba, however, fought back with raid and tackle points to reduce the deficit to just one point in the 36th minute. It was an evenly poised encounter with Puneri Paltan holding a slender two-point lead with less than five minutes to go.
Nitin Tomar got two quick raid points in succession as Puneri Paltan led 31-29 in the 37th minute. Desai got another raid point for U Mumba as they trailed by just one point with less than two
minutes to go.
U Mumba tied the game at 31-31 with a crucial tackle point in the 39th minute. However, Desai made a critical error in the dying seconds of the match to give Puneri Paltan a two-point advantage, which ensured that it was the home side that went back victorious.
The Inter Zone Challenge Week begins on Sunday with Bengal Warriors taking on Dabang Delhi KC, while Bengaluru Bulls will face Puneri Paltan.
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