The captain's strategy and Rishank Devadiga power U Mumba to a win over Dabang Delhi
Jaipur, 1st July, 2016: Rishank Devadiga brought back memories of his stellar performances in Season 3 when he helped secure a gritty 27-25 win for U Mumba over Dabang Delhi through his top scoring efforts. After this win, U Mumba move to the second spot on the league table, behind Puneri Paltan, with 11 points.
The match began with the lead exchanging hands as each raider would secure points for their team with Rishank and Selvamani doing most of the scoring. Captain Anup Kumar was sedate in his raiding but looked like scoring a super raid only to be adjudged out by a Delhi review. The score was locked at 8 all after Surender Singh scored a bonus point and Kashiling Adake coming in to raid with three U Mumba men left on the mat. Kashi managed to get both Rakesh Kumar and Anup out which saw Surender as last man standing. A valiant effort saw him return only with a bonus point and unfortunately U Mumba were all out in the 16th minute with the score 9-13 in favour of Dabang Delhi. A chase by Rakesh that saw him get tackled took the match into half time with U Mumba trailing 12-14 to Dabang Delhi.
When the men in orange and black came back for the second half, they were determined to regain the lead and make it stick. Two quick tackles on Selvamani and Deepak Narwal along with a bonus point from Rishank saw the score equalled to 15 all. A do or die raid for Dabang Delhi saw Meraj Sheykh touch Surjeet after an attempted tackle but Rishank shot U Mumba into the lead with a spectacular do or die raid of his own that saw him eliminate three Delhi players in one shot. This left only Kashi on the mat for the Delhi outfit and soon the all-out was secured in the 29th minute, making the score 21-17. Soon it was a series of tackles from both defences that saw the score move to 25-21 with less than 2 minutes remaining. Despite Selvamani getting a point and Surender getting tackled, captain Anup managed to secure a touch point in the buzzer raid, thus sealing a well-deserved 27-25 win for U Mumba.
The star performer of the night, Rishank Devadiga, was extremely happy with the result for his team. "I was itching for a super raid and I'm glad that it came at the right time. It's a great feeling to be a key player in a key match for my team." Coach Bhaskaran concluded that with the auction chopping and changing teams, the playing field has become level. "Now with the different changes, every team is making mistakes. It was sheer strategy on Anup's part in the dying moments that won us the game."
U Mumba now travel to Hyderabad where they will face Bengal Warriors on the 3rd of July.
The U Mumba defence manage to subdue Dabang Delhi defender Kashiling Adake during their match in Jaipur on Friday
Rishank Devadiga was adjudged the best raider of the match between U Mumba and Dabang Delhi in Jaipur on Friday