U Mumba continue winning streak

Last year’s finalists Mumba continued on their winning streak, beating Patna Pirates 25-20 in an exciting encounter wherein stars Anup Kumar, Shabbir Bapu and the league’s highest paid Indian, Rakesh Kumar continued to entertain their die-hard supporters. 

This win was the third straight one for the winners on home soil and a match to go against Puneri Paltans on the morrow they would be hoping to leave Mumbai with a cent per cent record. The Pune side was humiliated earlier in the night by the Titans which may favour U Mumba.

The first half saw some action as Mumbai managed to gain a 17-10 advantage, to establish a  slight upper hand. It was the brilliance of Shabbir, he was responsible in dismissing the last two Patna defenders for the all out –‘LONA’. The four point raid gave U Mumba a 14-9 lead and Patna struggled as their captain Rakesh kept returning empty handed. 

While Mumbai struggled, they got some relief from Rishank Devadiga. The youngster rescued them on most of the occasions where his side had to face a do-or-die raid. Anup’s tally of 4 successful raids out of 17 and Shabbir managing only a couple of fruitful raids out of 10 tells the true story. 

The master of ‘bonus points’ Anup failed to do justice to this tag. He hasn’t impressed in all the three outings. Mumbai’s Surender Nada too had a poor day which allowed Ravi Dalal and Sandeep Narwal to add to their team’s tally to minimize the margin of defeat.

It was a smart substitution by U Mumba, when they brought in Pawan for a do or die raid and the youngster delivered. Mumba at that had to risk sending Anup who was the only raider available with Shabbir sitting out. The home side will have to sort these issues tomorrow and register a convincing win over Pune which should be a good preparation for the remaining four matches. The next leg commences in Kolkata on July 22.

MATCH 6 – U MUMBA VS PATNA PIRATES