Pro Kabaddi League 2017: U Mumba thump Dabang Delhi, UP Yoddha edge past Bengaluru Bulls

Nagpur: Former champions U Mumba rode on fine performances from captain Anup Kumar and Shabeer Bapu to register a comfortable 33-21 victory over Delhi Dabang KC in a Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) contest at the Mankapur Indoor Stadium in Nagpur on Saturday. [caption id=“attachment_3898961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Anup Kumar (R) scored a stunning super raid to help U Mumba beat Dabang Delhi. Twitter/@ProKabaddi[/caption] Anup (7 points) and Shabeer (6 points) played vital roles in the opposition’s half with their pace and movement which resulted in successful raids or bonus points to help their side defeat Delhi Dabang by a margin of 14 points. For Delhi, Meraj Sheykh (7 points), who started from the bench along with stand-in captain Nilesh Shinde (5 points) played a crucial role for their side but in the end failed to register victory. After Delhi Dabang took the lead with their initial raids, U Mumba came from behind with the help of raider Shabeer Bapu, along with captain Anup Kumar and Surinder Singh to take a 10-point advantage over their opponents and all-out Delhi twice in the first half. However, Delhi with the help of bonus points, and successful raids from Nilesh Shinde and tackles brought the deficit down to six points with the first half scoreboard reading 14-8. In the second half, U Mumba looked to build on their lead with the help of a super raid from Anup Kumar which earned his side two points. The Mumbai outfit also pulled off a super tackle to add to their tally. For Delhi, Meraj Sheykh combined his leg movement and pace inside the opposition half well along with R. Sriram picking up important points through his successful raids to earn a few points but failed to help his side take the lead. Delhi Dabang were all-out four times in the entire match. UP Yoddha edge Bengaluru Bulls U.P Yoddha rode on fine performances from captain Nitin Tomar and Rishank Devadiga to register a narrow 32-27 victory over Bengaluru Bulls in a Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) contest at the Mankapur Indoor Stadium here on Saturday. Nitin (9 points) and Devadiga (5 points) did the most damage to the opposition with their successful raids helping the Uttar Pradesh outfit clinch victory by five points. For Bengaluru, captain Rohit Kumar (11 points) who earned a super 10 from his fast paced movement and technique inside the opposition mat was the only hope for the Bulls but failed to help his side take a lead. U.P Yoddha were off to a good start clinching two bonus points and tackling the opposition raider to add initial points in the tally. Rishank Devadiga did the most damage to the opposition in the first-half with his technique and movement while skipper Nitin Tomar targeted the poor left corner defence of the Bengaluru outfit to earn points. The Uttar Pradesh outfit took a 10-points lead in the first-half with the scoreboard reading 18-8. For Bengaluru, captain Rohit Kumar brought the first points on board with his successful raids. Ashish Kumar and Mahendra Singh also earned one point each in the first half but failed to give their side a good start. In the second-half, Ajay Kumar opened the scoring for Bengaluru but the pressure kept building on Rohit who delivered for his side earning five points from a super-raid for his side and continued to earn points through his successful raids to reduce the deficit by five points but failed to take the lead. For U.P, Nitin continued his fine run in the second-half helping his side add on to the lead by earning points from touching the bonus line and super-raid. Both teams earned two points each for all-out but the U.P outfit earned nine points in comparison to Bengaluru’s four points in tackle.