It turned out to be a dramatic evening in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) as the nail-biting encounter between Haryana Steelers and U Mumba ended all square at 24-24. The frantic encounter saw the pendulum swinging in both directions, but the spoils were shared in Bangalore. Extraordinarily this was the eighth tie of the PKL season 8.
Defensive first half
The Steelers came into the encounter after a morale-raising win against Gujarat Giants in their previous encounter while opponents U Mumba came on the back of another tie against U.P. Yoddha. Both teams showed a pragmatic approach in the first half as they were hardly separated. Both teams showed a good defensive approach. Abhishek Singh was the star raider for U Mumba with three points.
Haryana and Mumba heavily relied on do-or-die raids as defense became the need of the hour. In three do-or-die raid attempts, Haryana picked up three points defensively, while Mumba had two points on do-or-die raids. It was just 12-10 in favour of Haryana at the break but astonishingly only nine raids were successful from a total of 38 raids in the first half.
Mumba secure first all-out to turn the game
The heavy reliance on the defense meant that it took 29 minutes to culminate the first ‘Super Tackle’ opportunity of the night. The Steelers had only three defenders during that period as U Mumba took full advantage of the situation. In the 32nd minute, Haryana Steelers were all-out as the Mumba turned the game in their favour, within no time they went from 13-15 down to 19-16 in lead.
Nervous end to the contest
While V Ajith was having an off day, Fazal Atrachali was running the show with his four defensive tackle points. However, things got weird towards the end of the half with the pendulum swinging in both directions. With only three players on the mat, Mumba needed a strong unit to close the encounter but surrendered their lead through Rinku’s sloppy mistimed tackles. Abhishek however made sure that they walked away with a share of the spoils as the contest finished 24-24.
The tie sees Haryana climb to sixth place on 15 points while from six games. The tie was their first of the season, having already registered two wins in the current season. Opponents U Mumba on the other hand have now recorded their third tie of the season 8, having previously tied with U.P. Yoddha and Tamil Thalaivas. Haryana next take on Bengal Warriors on Friday (January 7) while U Mumba take on Telugu Titans on Saturday (January 8).
