Mumbai: Surinder Singh produced a terrific all-round display to ensure U Mumba ended their home leg with a win as they beat Gujarat Fortunegiants 32-20 in VIVO Pro Kabaddi League season 7. Surinder got a high five and made an excellent super raid to lead U Mumba to an impressive victory. For Gujarat
Fortunegiants, this was the first defeat of the season while U Mumba registered their second win in front of their home crowd.
Rohit Baliyan made a crucial super raid in the second half which shifted momentum in U Mumba’s favour. Gujarat Fortunegiants didn’t do much wrong for most of the match but lost to a moment of brilliance from Surinder Singh as they never recovered from his super raid.
It was a closely-contested affair in the first 10 minutes as both teams were tied at 4-4 with little to choose between U Mumba and Gujarat Fortunegiants. Surender picked up two tackle points for U Mumba whereas Rohit Gulia scored two raid points for Gujarat Fortunegiants. Fazal “Sultan” Atrachali marshaled his troops at the back very well for U Mumba
Abhishek Singh made a crucial do-or-die raid in the 15th minute and for a minute it looked the momentum will swing U Mumba’s way. But Gujarat Fortunegiants made a super tackle in the 17th minute to cut down the deficit. Surender Singh had a strong first half for U Mumba as he scored 4 tackle points. At the end of the first half, U Mumba held a slender 9-7 lead.
Gujarat Fortunegiants started the second half with a bang as they forced a super tackle to level the match at 9-9. U Mumba then went on a six-point run as they inflicted an all out to lead 15-9 after 25 minutes. Rohit Baliyan made things worse for Gujarat as he produced a super raid in the 27th minute to give U Mumba 18-10 lead.
Gujarat Fortunegiants came back as they scored four straight points to trail 15-18 and reduced U Mumba to just two men. In the space of a minute U Mumba turned the match on its head as first they forced a super tackle, then Surender Singh came up with a super raid and an all out was inflicted. U Mumba then led 28-15 with less than four minutes to go.
With less than five minutes all Gujarat could do was make an attempt to reduce the margin of defeat to seven. U Mumba, however, were in no mood to relent and didn’t show any signs of complacency.
Patna Pirates’ home leg begins tomorrow, 2nd August 2019. Fans can catch all the action of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 7 from 7 pm on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi, Star Sports 1 HD Hindi, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Marathi, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada and Hotstar.
