Gujarat Fortunegiants climb back from a 10-point deficit to topple U Mumba

A fantastic second-half performance from Gujarat Fortunegiants helped them beat U Mumba for the second time this campaign by a scoreline of 39-35 at The Arena by TransStadia in Ahmedabad on Wednesday. Raider K. Prapanjan scored a brilliant Super 10 whereas Left Cover Parvesh Bhainswal scored six tackle points for Gujarat Fortunegiants, handing them a third win in their home leg.

Despite the score being level at 5-5 early in the first half, U Mumba had the edge as three of Gujarat Fortunegiants’ points came courtesy bonus points, whereas the visitors had managed to get three touch points and two tackle points, giving them a numerical advantage on the mat. That advantage was capitalised on quickly, as star raider Siddharth Desai first managed to get Hadi Oshtorak with a touch and followed that up with a mat sweeping five-point Super Raid, getting a touch on all three Gujarat Fortunegiants defenders and inflicting the game’s first All-Out.

Check out the photos from the match here.

Leading 11-7, U Mumba were in no mood to rest on their good work and increased their lead to 10 points with an impressive 9-3 run. Rohit Baliyan and Desai contributed three raids points each, while Rohit Rana scored a couple of tackle points and Dharmaraj Cheralathan added another in this run. With the team in a 10-point hole and down to just three men on the mat, Parvesh Bhainswal scored back-to-back Super Tackles and added another successful tackle right as the clock expired to cut U Mumba’s lead to just five at halftime.

Gujarat Fortunegiants continued to cut into U Mumba’s lead in the second half, courtesy of Bhainswal’s sixth tackle point of the match and two straight raid points from Prapanjan, bringing it down to just three points and leaving U Mumba with just two men on the mat. But substitute Vinod Kumar came good for his side, scoring two raid points in quick succession, before getting a Super Tackle on Prapanjan to increase his team’s lead back to seven.

Gujarat Fortunegiants weren’t to be denied, though, as Sunil Kumar’s tackle on Desai followed by a two-point raid from Sachin left U Mumba with just a solitary man on the mat. After allowing him the bonus, Ruturaj Koravi brought Darshan Kadian down to inflict an All-Out on U Mumba and reduce their lead down to just two.

With momentum on their side, Gujarat Fortunegiants kicked into overdrive for the remainder of the match. Fazel Atrachali’s self out in the 35^th minute was followed by the home team scoring six of the next seven points in the match, to take a 34-32 lead in the match and reduce U Mumba down to just a single player yet again. Captain Sunil Kumar’s emphatic Dash on Abolfazl Maghsoudlou capped off a 10-2 run to inflict an All Out on U Mumba and give his side a five-point lead.

Desai managed to score two quick points to reduce the deficit down to three and force a Do-Or-Die situation on Gujarat Fortunegiants. But just like he had done for the rest of the night, Prapanjan delivered big for his team, scoring a two-point raid to complete a Super 10 and give his side an unassailable lead.

Visit the matchcentre to relive the contest here.

Top performers

Gujarat Fortunegiants

Top Raider: K. Prapanjan (10 Raid Points)

Top Defender: Parvesh Bhainswal (6 Tackle Points)

U Mumba

Top Raider: Siddharth Desai (13 Raid Points)

Top Defender: Rohit Rana (3 Tackle Points)