Kolkata: Skipper Anup Kumar who had done precious little till about ten minutes left for the final whistle scripted a magnificent comeback for UMumba which earned them a straight fifth win in the Second Season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. They sent the home side Bengal Warriors crashing to a second defeat by a 4 point margin, ending 29-25. Rattled by the tall Warriors raider Mahendra Rajput and the all-Maharashtra trio of Sachin Khambe, Bajirao Hodage and captain Nilesh Shinde the Mumbai side was trailing 16-23 after suffering an all -out in 32nd minute. That’s when Anup woke up to gather three points to set his team on the path of recovery.

The winners maintain their top spot with 25 points and Bengal occupy fourth spot with 7 points with a single win against Bengaluru Bulls.

UMumba were a bit apprehensive to start with even though their rivals took the field without Dinesh their captain and international player. They had drafted in Mahendra Rajput the policeman from Maharashtra instead. Coach Raj Narain Sharma had apparently not preferred him against Telugu Titans after he helped the team score a shock win against Bengaluru Bulls.

The raider justified the faith when he scored at will using his height and reach to get touch points. With the defence too contributing the Warriors ran last year’s runners-up U Mumba close till the halfway mark. The Mumbaikars led 11-9 at that stage. The real trouble started for them after resumption. Three back to back super tackles by the Warriors on Anup, Rishabh and Shabeer suddenly catapulted the Warriors into the lead at 15-14. Mahendra then netted two points to clear the way for his side’s ‘LONA’. But the Mumbaikars with their rich experience and depth in all the departments pulled back.

Jeeva Kumar their trusted defender with assistance from Mohit Chillar saw that they were no further alarms. For the Bengal side the inability of Mahendra to sustain the attacks and the total lack of points from Sunil Jaipal their third raider hit them badly. Also Jan Kun Lee was not in his elements and that sums up the their slide to defeat.