Bengaluru: The second match in Bengaluru was also the second to last match for both teams involved. Similar to the night’s previous match, this was only a match for honour for the Delhi side. The Telugu Titan’s victory in the last night had put the finals out of reach for Dabang Delhi, for even 10 points couldn’t put them in the top 4. U Mumba needed just one victory to clinch their place in the top 4 teams. The numbers provided ample incentive for a strong performance, but it seemed to have little to no impact on the U Mumba’s determination. The fans at Kanteerava Stadium would be witness to a decidedly lacklustre performance from the Mumbai Team… for the first half at least.
After empty raids to start the match, Delhi quickly turned around to come out on top. A blitz raid for 3 points by Kashiling Adanke put Dabang Delhi on track for an all-out in less than 5 minutes. The U Mumba team, fully replaced and hopefully exhilarated, only served as further fodder for the Delhi team. Delhi’s Surjeet Narwal lived up to his fame as a Star Raider, scoring out 2 U Mumba players in a whirlwind raid, inspiring his team to take out Rishank Devadiga in the following tackle. The entire U Mumba team lagged behind in performance, with their captain Anup Kumar showing a clear fatigue from a very long league journey. Tripping over the mat multiple times in his raids, and being torn apart by the Delhi defence, Anup was taken out time and time again by the stronger Dabang Delhi. Scoring another all-out before the end of the first 20 minutes, the Dabang Delhi set the score 13 – 21 at halftime.
After halftime, everything changed. Whether it was a stirring speech from the coach, an epiphany of the significance of their match, or maybe just some sort of miracle, but U Mumba came back a new team. Rishank started the half for Mumbai with a 2 point raid, which was followed up by a battery of attacks until a final tackle of Surjeet left Delhi with just one player remaining. Anup, revived and revitalized, closed the deal, and set the score at 24 – 25, cementing a tremendous comeback for U Mumba, trailing only 1 point behind.
Mimicking the dominance exhibited by Delhi in the beginning of the game, the U Mumba team tore into Dabang Delhi and reduced them to another all-out inminutes. Even Kashiling’s aerial offence could not stand up to the Mumbai defence. U Mumba came back to an amazing 7 point victory, which not only shocked the Bengaluru crowd, but also cemented their spot in their home stadium for the Pro Kabaddi Finals.
