Mumbai, Jan 6 Reigning champions Jaipur Pink Panthers continued their rich vein of form as they rode on skipper Arjun Deshwal’s Super 10 to defeat U Mumba 41-31 in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 match here on Saturday.
Deshwal (17 raid points), Ankush (6 tackle points) and U Mumba’s Guman Singh (13 raid points) were the star performers of the game at the DOME by NSCI in Mumbai.
U Mumba, the home side, struggled to get going in the first half and relied heavily on Guman’s superb raids. He scored 10 of U Mumba’s 13 points in the first 20 minutes as the defence managed just 1 tackle point.
Jaipur Pink Panthers were also shaky in defence but their 3-man raiding unit of Arjun, V Ajith and Bhavani Rajput came to their rescue.
A multi-point raid from Deshwal produced the first All-Out of the game as Jaipur Pink Panthers took a 12-5 lead in the 7th minute.
A few minutes later, Ajith struck, and Jaipur Pink Panthers had twice as many points as their opponents did at 18-9.
Guman, U Mumba’s main hope, brought up his Super 10 in the 16th minute and also crossed the 300 raid points mark, but his side continued to trail by nine points at the break.
Yet another multi-point raid from Deshwal early in the second half saw him reach a Super 10 and become the first raider to cross 100 raid points this season. It took Jaipur Pink Panthers eight minutes into the second half to inflict an All-Out as Arjun’s two-point raid and Reza Mirbagheri’s tackle put them in the driver’s seat. They led 33-19 with 12 minutes left on the clock.
U Mumba mounted a late fightback, courtesy of big raids from Jai Bhagwan and Alireza Mirzaeian, but it was too little too late for them to catch up to Jaipur Pink Panthers' ever-increasing lead. Ankush, last season’s best defender, completed his High 5 as Jaipur Pink Panthers handed U Mumba their first loss of their home leg.
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