Pro Kabaddi League 2018: Pune defeats Mumbai in a nail-biting thriller

For Mumbai, Siddharth Desai scored 15 points but faltered in the dying minutes of the game as Pune clinched a nail-biting contest at home

Pro Kabaddi League 2018: Pune defeats Mumbai in nail-biting thriller

Host Puneri Paltan held their nerve to pip U Mumba 33-32 in the Maharashtra derby of Pro Kabaddi League here on Saturday. Pune star raider Nitin Tomar bagged 13 points while defender Girish Ernak managed six tackle points. For Mumbai, Siddharth Desai scored 15 points but faltered in the dying minutes of the game as Pune clinched a nail-biting contest at home. Siddharth gave his team a 2-0 lead in the second minute but the host's defence leveled the match in the third minute. Nitin took a raid point in the eighth minute as Pune trailed 4-5. He came with a two-point raid in the 13th minute to give Pune 10-7 lead before Pune inflicted the first all out of the match in the 15th minute to lead 15-9. Iranian defender and U Mumba's skipper Fazel Atrachali had a quiet first half as his side struggled to find a foot in the match. Siddharth scored a raid point in the 20th minute as U Mumba trailed 12-17 at the end of the first half. Pune dominated the proceedings in the second half as well as they didn't allow Mumbai to make a comeback for the majority of the second half. However, the visitors fought back with raid and tackle points to reduce the deficit to just one point in the 36th minute. It was an evenly poised encounter with Puneri Paltan holding a slender two-point lead with less than five minutes to go. Nitin got two quick raid points in succession as Pune led 31-29 in the 37th minute. Siddharth got another raid point for Mumbai as they trailed by just one point with less than two minutes to go. The visitors tied the game at 31-31 with a crucial tackle point in the 39th minute. Siddharth made an error in the dying seconds of the match to give Puneri Paltan a two-point advantage which ensured that it was the home side which went back victorious.