Pro Kabaddi League 2015 - U Mumba's Winning Run finally stopped, Telugu Titans draw their 2nd match with Puneri Paltan

It is a fantastic Friday in Pro Kabaddi League 2015 and the first match was a repeat of last year’s final between Jaipur Pink Panthers and U Mumba. U Mumba came into this match with 8 straight wins and were looking to make it 9 but in their tracks stood Jaipur Pink Panthers. If they had any chance of making it to the semi-finals, it would mean halting U Mumba in their tracks and the onus was on their defence due to the off-colour raider Jasvir Singh lacking form. The first half was pretty lackluster from a raider’s perspective as they returned empty handed or were tackled on most occasions. The absence of Shabeer Bapu hit U Mumba as they could only manage a paltry 4 raid points in the first half. U Mumba trailed Jaipur Pink Panthers 15-11 at halftime. Known as the comeback kings, U Mumba failed in the second half as well ultimately losing the game 35-25. Anup Kumar’s miserly 2 points from 14 raids told the story. His counterpart Jasvir Singh was also out of form but thanks to the birthday boy, Rajesh Narwal, and Sonu Narwal, Jaipur Pink Panthers managed to maintain a sustainable lead till the final whistle. In spite of Jeeva Kumar’s absence, U Mumba’s defense was as sound as usual but their offence could not make the most of their opportunities. Jaipur Pink Panthers’ trio of Kuldeep Singh, Prashant Chavan and Ran Singh were brilliant in defense as they made the experienced and skilled U Mumba raiders childish. Jaipur Pink Panthers have jumped to fourth spot with 21 points in the Pro Kabaddi League 2015 standings and will look to maintain this position in order to qualify for the knockouts. 

The second match of the night was between Telugu Titans and Puneri Paltan. The side from Hyderabad didn’t look like title contenders in the first eight minutes as they were all-out and trailed 4-12. Wazir Singh simply looked untouchable during this duration but Telugu Titans fought out of their skin to bring the score level at 16-16 in the seventeenth minute. Sukesh Hegde and Deepak Niwas Hudda were the culprits of inflicting an all-out on the Puneri Paltan in this comeback. Puneri Paltan went into halftime with a meager 2 point lead. The second half was a cagier affair as both teams played safe and didn’t give much to the other. Telugu Titans managed to eke out a draw thanks to a superb raiding performance from Sukesh Hegde and Deepak Niwas Hudda. Sukesh Hegde had 9 points from his raids with 3 successful do-or-die raids inclusive of a super raid. Deepak Niwas Hudda also supported him aptly as he scored 7 points for his side. The duo performed exceedingly well and made up for the inability of Rahul Chaudhari. Wazir Singh was the lone warrior for his side as he scored 10 raid points consisting of a super raid. The last minute was the best I’ve seen in a kabaddi game as Puneri Paltan lead 29-27. With the game virtually in the bag, Prashant Rai stepped up for Telugu Titans and scored a point for his side. The experienced Pravin Niwale came in for the buzzer raid and looked to make a legal raid before returning back to his half but was tackled by the Telugu Titans defense and scores were level. Telugu Titans climbed up to the number 1 spot in the Pro Kabaddi League 2015 standings over U Mumba having played two games more.