FACE2NEWS/HYDERABAD
Aslam Inamdar, Pankaj Mohite, and Akash Shinde's combined raiding burst gave the Puneri Paltan a fifth win on the trot with a 38-25 victory over the Telugu Titans in the vivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Saturday.
(MOREPIC1)(MOREPIC2)The game kicked off slowly with both teams keen to avoid mistakes and instead just play to their strengths. Buoyed by a partisan home crowd, the Titans constantly kept the Paltan raiders in check, and despite going down in numbers due to Aslam Inamdar's raiding prowess, they pulled multiple super tackles to avoid the all out. The teams went into the break separated by four points, with the Paltan leading 14-10.
Puneri Paltan picked up the tempo early in the second half and within minutes had inflicted the first all out of the evening on the Titans, to surge into a 18-10 lead. The Titans had barely recovered from that all out and even before they could rally together, another followed. A super raid by Pankaj Mohite on Parvesh Bhainswal, Vishal Bhardwaj and T Adarsh condemned the Titans to a second all out within seven minutes to leave them down 27-11.
Reeling from the double all out the Titans struggled to get much going in the raiding department and were still reliant on their defenders, who kept pulling off super tackles to keep them in the game. Another late super raid by Akash Shinde on Muhammed Shihas, Mohsen Maghsoudlou and Prince D, threatened to wipe the Titans out, but home side managed to stay afloat. However, the Pune side continued being clinical and eventually registered five wins in a row.
Guman Singh and Ashish star in U Mumba's massive Victory
U Mumba side put up a fantastic performance to defeat Bengal Warriors by 49-41. Raider Guman Singh emerged as the best player for U Mumba with 14 points, while his fellow raider Ashish chipped in with 13 points in the match.
Guman Singh picked up a couple of raid points as U Mumba took the lead at 4-2 in the 5th minute. Guman continued to showcase top form and reduced the Warriors to just one member on the mat in the 7th minute. Moments later, Guman pulled off another magnificent raid to help his team inflict an all out and take a massive lead at 12-4. However, Vaibhav Garje and Girish Maruti Ernak scored tackle points and kept the Warriors in the game at 9-13. The Bengal side kept fighting and inflicted an all out just before half-time, but they were still behind the Mumbai team at 21-23 at the end of the first half.
The two sides played out a neck and neck contest in the opening minutes of the second half. Guman led the charge for U Mumba, while the Warriors banked on Maninder Singh. But U Mumba managed to stay ahead at 27-24 in the 25th minute. Guman Singh pulled off a magnificent raid in the 28th minute as the Mumbai side continued to lead at 31-27. U Mumba rode on the momentum and carried out an ALL OUT to attain a stronghold of the match at 37-30 in the 33rd minute. Thereafter, raider Ashish and defender Rinku stepped up their game as the Mumbai side earned at a massive lead at 47-37 in the 39th minute. U Mumba continued to step on the pedal and eventually closed out a comprehensive victory.
