We all know, PKL-09 is in its business end where the teams are left to play not more than 2 matches each. Today’s match if not for all, was important for the fortunes of three teams, even though two were playing. The match was between U Mumba and the defending champions, Dabang Delhi K.C. The situation was simple, Delhi had to win the match for them to still be in the race for play-offs whereas Mumbai had to win for themselves as well as the three-time champions, Patna Pirates to be in the play-off race. Delhi got the better of Mumbai with a score line of 24-41.
If the odds were to be believed, this match was a competition between Delhi’s raiding and Mumbai’s defense. But, as soon as the match started, it turned the other way round and in a matter of minutes, Delhi’s defense was all over the Mumbai raiders. Guman Singh, Mumbai’s specialist raider started on a positive note when he came back from his first raid with a point, but failed continuously after that. Delhi had planned a proper strategy for him and executed it well. He was able to get only 3 raid points from the whole match. It was an absolute raiding failure for U Mumba as none of the supporting raiders also were able to get the scoreboard ticking. Since, the Mumba raiders were not in form, it was a match which was completely dominated by the Delhi defenders. Amit Hooda was the pick of all as he took 7 points, whereas Sandeep Dhull and Vishal got 5 and 4 points respectively. In a completely dominated match by Delhi, one good thing for U Mumba was their defense. They were successful in keeping the Delhi raiders quiet for most part of the game with captain Rinku leading in that department with 4 points. They did 4 super tackles out of which two were of Naveen Kumar, Delhi’s top raider. Though it was a decent performance by the Mumbai defense, they leaked points at important and crunch stages of the game where Delhi took the match away from them. It was a collective effort from Delhi’s raiders that helped them succeed today.
With this match, the race for play-offs has just gotten more interesting with two teams bowing out and Delhi moving ahead in the race. However, if Dabang Delhi K.C. need to qualify, they would need their raiders to step up as the next match is going to be a do-or-die for them. For Mumbai, there have been a lot of learnings from this season and they have a chance to test their bench in their last match of the season. Let’s meet again for the next match, until then cheers!
Also Read: PKL Season 9 : Key Events from Match day 26
