As expected, the defending winners, Jaipur Pink Panthers, kept up their great play as they beat U Mumba 41–31 in the 10th season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) at the DOME by NSCI in Mumbai on Saturday. A news release from PKL said that the game’s best players were Arjun (17 raid points), Ankush (6 tackle points), and U Mumba’s Guman Singh (13 raid points).
The home team, U Mumba, had a hard time getting going in the first half and had to rely on Guman’s raiding a lot. Ten of U Mumba’s thirteen points came in the first twenty minutes, when he scored them. The defense only scored one stop point. The Jaipur Pink Panthers’ defense was also weak, but their three-man raiding team, made up of Arjun, V. Ajith, and Bhavani Rajput, saved them.
The first ‘ALL OUT’ of the game happened when Arjun scored multiple points. This gave the Jaipur Pink Panthers a 12–5 lead in the seventh minute. Then Ajith scored, and at 18-9, the Jaipur Pink Panthers had twice as many points as their opponents. It was U Mumba’s best chance that Guman scored his Super 10 in the 16th minute. He also scored 300 raid points, but his team was still behind by 9 points at halftime. Arjun scored more than 10 points in a raid early in the second half, making him the first raider this season to score more than 100 points in a raid. It took the Jaipur Pink Panthers eight minutes into the second half to score a “ALL OUT.” Arjun’s two-point raid and Reza Mirbagheri’s stop put them in charge. With 12 minutes left, they were ahead 33–19.
U Mumba made a late comeback thanks to Jai Bhagwan and Alireza Mirzaeian’s big runs, but it was too late to catch up to the Jaipur Pink Panthers, who were getting stronger all the time. Ankush, who was the best defender last season, got his “High 5” as the Jaipur Pink Panthers beat U Mumba for the first time in their home match.
