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 catcher 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 catchers went out in an attempt to stop Abhishek (11 points). Surinder’s bold tackles as right cover earned him six points.
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.
The results: U Mumba 39 (Abhishek Singh 11, Arjun Deshwal 7, Surinder Singh 6) bt UP Yoddha 36 (Rishank Devadiga 9, Shrikant Jadhav 8).
Puneri Paltan 36 (Manjeet 11, Pankaj Mohite 8, Amit Kumar 4) tied with Tamil Thalaivas 36 (Ajith Kumar 18, Rahul Chaudhari 4, Shabeer Bapu 4) .
