U Mumba condemn Bengal to their second straight loss at home

U Mumba beat Bengal Warriors 37-31 at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday. Anup Kumar top-scored for Mumbai with 11 points, while Kashiling Adake and Shrikant Jadhav managed eight points each.

It was even-stevens in the opening stages with the teams tied on 4-4 after the first seven minutes. Mumbai took an 11-6 lead as the match approached the 10-minute mark by inflicting an All-Out on Bengal after a two-point raid from Captain Cool Anup.

The Warriors began to fight back immediately with successful raids as well as tackles but Mumbai were aware of the danger and thwarted the hosts’ sudden momentum with some good raiding and defending of their own to take a 15-12 lead into the half-time interval.

The Warriors got the first two points of the second period but a super tackle in the 24^th minute by U Mumba on Maninder Singh seemed to take the wind out of Bengal’s sails. A super raid by Jadhav moments later extended Mumbai’s lead to 20-14.

Adake then got in on the act with a two-point raid in the 28^th minute, which in turn set up another All-Out on Bengal soon after to give the Mumbaikars a 27-16 lead. Mistakes started to creep into Bengal’s game with the hosts increasingly desperate to get back into the game.

The visitors soon opened up a 14-point lead with nine minutes left on the clock and never looked in danger of being pegged back by the Warriors. Bengal’s Maninder in particular showed some great fight towards the end and picked up a Super 10, while also helping effect an All-Out on Mumbai in the penultimate minute. However, it was a little too late for the home team as Mumbai ran out comfortable victors in the end.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.