PKL 2019 | U Mumba qualify for playoffs after beating Patna Pirates

 Having faced each other 12 times till now; U Mumba had won 8 times against Patna Pirates. The first half of the match started off slowly, as the first point of the match was scored by U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali as he successfully tackled Pardeep Narwal! A few Do-or-Die raids were witnessed for both the teams as they played a waiting game by giving out empty raids on each other. Athul MS used his feet brilliantly as he took a 2-pointer raid to get out Neeraj Kumar and Vikas Jaglan. 

Abhishek Singh was seen taking a hand touch on Esmaeil Maghsoudlu from the Patna Pirates to win another raid point for U Mumba. Surinder Singh dashed Pradeep Narwal out of the court to take the points tally to 8-3 in favor of U Mumba. The 9th minute saw an early ALL OUT inflicted by the U Mumba team. A quick lead was taken by the Mumbai team, with a score of 12 – 5, with a score difference of 7 points! Athul MS scored a touch point on Vikas Jaglan, due to a silly mistake by the defender. Rohit Baliyan scored a bonus point for U Mumba, adding to the score. 

Pradeep Narwal of the Patna Pirates scored a touch point against Surinder Singh and followed it up with 2 touch raid points in the last minute to revive a comeback for the Pirates. Abhishek Singh scored the 5th raid point against Neeraj Kumar with a hand touch. The first half ended with a score of 17-13, with U Mumba leading by 4 points.

The second half of the match started off on a quicker note as compared to the first half. Fazel Atrachali went for Pradeep Narwal with a Super Tackle and earned a point. The 25th minute saw a Do-or-Die raid by Abhishek Singh, with a hand touch on Neeraj Kumar in the dying seconds! Abhishek Singh was seen tactfully blocking Jaideep’s dive. Pradeep Narwal got out as, Sandeep Narwal went for him with a brilliant dive. 

Hadi Oshtorak from Patna Pirates took out Abhishek Singh with a chain tackle!  Do-or-Die raid for Patna Pirates as Jang Kun Lee raided unsuccessfully with a review requested by the Patna Pirates gave them 3 raid points and U Mumba got 1 raid point. Patna Pirates were seen slowly catching up to the score with a difference of mere points. Rohit Baliyan showcased a brilliant raid, with a kick on Vikas Jaglan of the Patna Pirates. Do-or-Die raid for U Mumba, as Rohit Baliyan tackled Pradeep Narwal! The match ended with a humorous, failed jump by Sandeep Narwal as U Mumba won the match, with a score of 30-26.

Abhishek Singh (7 raid points) from the U Mumba team and Pradeep Narwal (8 raid points) of Patna Pirates were declared as the best raiders. Fazel Atrachali (4 tackle points), Captain of U Mumba and Hadi Oshtorak (4 tackle poinst) from Patna Pirates, were the top defenders of the match.

Fazel Atrachali and Rohit Baliyan both reached a milestone in their Vivo Pro Kabaddi career by reaching to 300 total points overall.