Matchday 32 Roundup: U Mumba thrash Patna Pirates 36-23, Bengaluru Bulls beat Tamil Thalaivas 40-34

Matchday 32 of PKL 9 saw U Mumba beat Patna Pirates in a one-sided affair as the final scoreline read 36-23 in their favour at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune. In the second game of the night, Bengaluru Bulls beat Tamil Thalaivas 40-34 to move to the top of the table. 

With the win, U Mumba moved to the third spot as they have 43 points from 13 games. A points difference of 19 signifies that most of their contests were close ones and a thirteen-point victory over Patna Pirates will help them a lot. 

Patna Pirates continue to sit in the sixth spot with 38 points from 13 games. Bengal Warriors breathe below their neck with 37 points but they have played one match less than them. A point difference of -22 can spell trouble for them in the business end of the league. 

Bengaluru Bulls’ six-point win over Tamil Thalaivas pipped Puneri Paltan to the summit position as they have 46 points from 13 games, two more than the second-placed team in the league. 

Tamil Thalaivas are positioned ninth in the table with 35 points from 13 matches but only three points separate them and sixth-placed Patna Pirates. They are behind Dabang Delhi, who have the same number of points, on the count of inferior point difference. 

Match 76: U Mumba vs Patna Pirates  

The match started on a cagey affair with the scoreline levelled in the first fourteen minutes of the contest. U Mumba got an edge in the match when Guman Singh returned with two points in a Do-or-Die raid, taking out Sunil and Manish.

Patna Pirates’ Sachin got tackled in the subsequent Do-or-Die raid while Guman replied with two points to extend U Mumba’s lead to five points as he escaped from the clutches of Shadloui Chiyaneh and got a touch on Monu while retreating.

Guman leapt over Neeraj’s double thigh hold to restrict Patna down to one man as Mohit pinned Rohit Gulia after allowing him the bonus. The scoreline read 18-13 at the interval of half-time.

Rinku with his ankle hold and Guman with his leaps slowly extended the Mumbai-based side’s lead and restricted Patna to three men. Monu got trapped by Ashish’s double thigh hold. Guman Singh kicked Manish straight in his face to trim down the manpower to one while Rinku’s ankle hold on Anuk Kumar completed the formalities.

U Mumba inflicted Patna Pirates a second ‘All Out’ with four minutes left on the clock and the scoreline reading 32-20. The Pirates tried to trim down the lead to less than seven to come out of the game with at least a point but they managed to only increase the lead to 13 in desperation.

Match 77: Bengaluru Bulls vs Tamil Thalaivas 

Bengaluru Bulls started the match on a blistering note, reducing Tamil Thalaivas down to two men courtesy of Saurabh Nandal’s thigh holds. On the raiding department, Bharat replied with multi-point raids to inflict damage. 

The much-awaited All Out was finally inflicted in the 5th minute with Bengaluru Bulls leading by 9-3. However, the turning point of the first half came in the 14th minute when Narender Hoshiyar returned with a multi-point raid to trim down Bengaluru to three men. Narender successfully attempted a dubki to further reduce the deficit while Mohit’s double thigh hold on Bharat further piled pressure on the Bulls. 

Vikas Kandola was encircled by the Thalaivas defenders as they replied with an All Out of their own to see the scoreline reading 16-15 in their favour with three minutes remaining in the first half. Neeraj Narwal replied with a super raid to escape from an ankle hold and keep the margin at one point as the half-time scoreline read 19-18 in Thalaivas’ favour. 

A resurgent Bulls equalised the proceedings in the second half with Bharat completing a Super 10 of his own. Writhing away from the last two defenders, the Bulls inflicted a second ‘All Out’ on the Tamil Thalaivas to regain the lead as the scoreline read 28-25. 

Bengaluru had a lead of four points heading into the final three minutes but was down to three men. Neeraj Narwal’s double thigh hold on Ajinkya Pawar earned Bengaluru a Super Tackle to increase Bengaluru’s lead. The full-time scoreline read 40-34 in the favour of Bengaluru Bulls as Tamil Thalaivas walked away with one point to their name.