In the end, it turned out to be a one-sided affair in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 8 opener as U Mumba registered a comprehensive win over Bengaluru Bulls by 46-30. For the first time, a Pro Kabaddi match was played without spectators. U Mumba’s Abhishek Singh dominated the proceedings as he was responsible for 19 out of 46 points scored for his team. Out of these 19 points, Abhishek gathered 15 raid points and four bonus points.
U Mumba took the lead after five minutes and maintained it till the end. In the 15th minute, Bengaluru Bulls came close to a comeback but U Mumba extended the lead in the second half and ruled out any possibility of an anti-climax.
Bengaluru Bulls were marginally ahead of U Mumba in raid points but it was the tackle points where they lagged behind. Compared to U Mumba’s 13 tackle points, Bulls could only manage three. Bulls did not have any all out points against their name either whereas U Mumba scored six. On the other hand, both the sides had a couple of super raid points.
For Bulls, only five players managed to earn points. Chandran Ranjit was the most impressive for the losing side with 13 points comprising of nine raid points and four bonus points. Pawan Kumar too gathered points in double digits. Pawan’s 12 points included seven raid points and five bonus points. Raider Mohit Sehrawat did not live upto the expectations and failed to provide support to Ranjit and Pawan.
Even though the raid strike rate of Bengaluru Bulls (71.05 per cent) was higher than U Mumba’s (68.42 per cent), the latter had the longest successful raid streak of 14 points which was way ahead of the former’s four.
U Mumba will face Dabang Delhi in their next fixture on December 24 whereas Bengaluru Bulls will take on Tamil Thalaivas.
