Pro Kabaddi 2018: Atrachali leads from front as U Mumba pip Puneri Paltan in derby
Greater Noida: U Mumba finally won the Maharashtra derby against Puner Paltan with a 31-22 scoreline in the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League here Saturday.
Puneri Paltan had drawn and lost the last two contests against U Mumba.
Fazel Atrachali had a near flawless match as he got 4 tackle points from his 5 tackle attempts. More GB of Puneri Paltan and Vinod Kumar shocked the opponents as they got 4 and 3 tackle points even though they are raiders for their respective teams.
Girish Ernak had a mediocre performance as he only got 1 tackle point from 3 tackle attempts. Fazel Atrachali was given the Orange Sleeve for hoarding the highest number of tackle points this season after Saturday's incredible performance.
Deepak Kumar Dahiya started the match with a running hand touch on Surender Singh to open the floodgates but this was overturned by U Mumba in the next 4 minutes. U Mumba took the lead and kept a gap of 4 points by the 5th minute to make it 5-1.
With two men on the mat, Puneri Paltan got a strong Super Tackle by Monu on Darshan Kadian to make it 5-3 in the 6th minute. Puneri Paltan tried to get touch and tackle points to regain their full strength but was All Out in the 11th minute raid by Abhishek Singh.
Atrachali was the star for U Mumba as he got 4 tackle points in as many tackles. The half ended with U Mumba leading by 9 points with the scoreline at 19-10.
The second half saw Puneri Paltan try to change their tactics as they worked on their defense to reduce the gap through Super Tackles. Shubham Shinde got an ankle hold on Vinod Kumar while More pulled him from reaching the midline in the first raid of the half to get a Super Tackle.
They continued with this technique as they reduced a 9 point lead in the start to a 4 point lead by the 30th minute by regularly picking up Super Tackles.
Pune continued to have just three men on the mat for a while. The 32nd minute raid by Abhishek Singh became the catalyst for U Mumba to inflict an All Out on Pune as he got both Ravi Kumar and Sandeep Narwal.
This raid was reviewed by Puneri Paltan as they believed that the raider was pushed out of the mat before he crossed the midline with his hand, only to notice in the replays that his body was still in the lobby. The next raid saw Surender Singh dash Deepak Dahiya out of the mat and complete the procedure of an All Out to make it 28-18.
