Opening day of the home leg was just like a fest as the Dabang fans witnessed a nail-biting encounter at the Thyagaraj stadium, Delhi. We started the clash on high as Abolfazl (6 points) looked sharp in the first half, with bonus points and touch points coming easily to him. Meraj (4 points) inflicted an early all-out on U Mumba as we led 12-3, courtesy of a super raid. The Iranian duo had put up a great show to give us a handsome lead in the initial stages of the game. But U Mumba made a solid comeback as the scores got levelled to 16-16 at the halfway mark.
Rohit (4 points), who has been consistently putting in a good supporting performance in the past few games came into the picture once again as he and Meraj kept things under control post half-time. The game was getting interesting with each passing moment as both the sides were going neck to neck. Anand Patil (2 points) also bagged two vital points for us. Sunil (4 points) led the defence well as we saw some superb tackles from the defenders. In the end, U Mumba held their nerves as they won a close clash against us by 28-30.
Talking about milestones, we completed our 900 successful raids in Pro Kabaddi League. We also achieved another brilliant landmark as we picked up 2000 points in Pro Kabaddi League history. Last but not the least, The Iranian beast, Abolfazl notched up his 50 raid points this season.
Our second home leg match is against Puneri Paltan. Their skipper, Deepak Hooda is a star performer for them, though there are other big names in their squad like, Sandeep Narwal, Rajesh Mondal and Dharmaraj Cheralathan. They have a formidable line-up but with the backing of the home crowd, we will surely cross this hurdle by giving in everything that we have with us.