The Gujarat Giants met U Mumba in the second game of the night in Pro Kabaddi League season 8 on Tuesday here at Bengaluru. It was a neck-to-neck battle between the two sides placed in the bottom half of the points table.
The Gujarat-based franchise was dominant in the first five minutes of the game as they took a four-point lead with their raiders Ajay Kumar and Rakesh Narwal getting points while Girish Maruti Ernak struck in the defense.
The Mumbai-based franchise struggled to match the lead as Ajinkya Kapre and V Ajith Kumar kept Mumbai in the hunt for the points but Gujarat was solid in their defense as well to maintain their lead at the stroke of half-time with the score-line reading 10-13 in their favor.
In the second half, the Gujarat-based team kept building on their lead, not allowing Mumbai to get ahead of them. Along with Parvesh Bhainswal and Ernak, the defenders also supported their raiders as they consolidated their lead by five points at the end of the 30th minute of the match.
Fazel Atrachali and Rinku then spurred a comeback for the Mumbai-based team with a super tackle pinning down Rakesh in the 31st minute. Ajith then dominated for Mumbai as he kept bringing in raid points to level the score 21-21 in the 34th minute. After being behind for a long time in the match, they finally took the lead as Rinku made a successful tackle to give them the lead in the very next minute.
The game got neck-to-neck in the final minutes with both sides fighting hard for each point as the pendulum kept swinging with every raid. With points coming for both sides, the scores were once again leveled on 23-23 in the 38th minute. Abhishek Singh gave Mumbai the lead with a hand touch with less than a minute to play, but Ajay completed a successful raid for Gujarat as the game eventually ended in a tie with the scores 24-24 when the final whistle was blown.
Ajith Kumar attempts to get past the Gujarat defenders to score for his side
Ajay and Rakesh were the best raiders for the Giants with six raid points each. Girish scored three tackle points, while Parvesh and Sunil picked up two tackle points each. Ajith, with eight raid points, stood tall in the raiding department for the Mumbai side as Abhishek supported him with four points. Rinku emerged as their best defender in this contest with four tackle points.
With three wins, as many losses, and five ties from eleven appearances, U Mumba are now placed sixth on the table with 31 points. Whereas Gujarat Giants move up to the tenth position with two wins, five losses and three ties with 23 points.
Both sides will be disappointed to not have finished the game with a win. However, they would be satisfied, having picked up three crucial points each. The Gujarat side will hope to bounce back when they take on Tamil Thalaivas in their next match on Thursday.
Mumbai is now winless with two defeats and a couple of ties in their last four matches. They will need to pull off a win when they face the Telugu Titans in their upcoming clash on Saturday to gain some momentum.