In this titanic clash, the first points of the match went to Telugu Titans, who pushed star raider Shabeer Bapu out of the mat. With the match tied at 2-2 after 5 minutes, Mumbai youngster Rishank Devadiga put some breathing space between the two teams by tagging 2 Telugu Titans players.

U Mumba were leading 5-2 after the 6th minute and that is precisely when the Titans showed their quality. They went on a 11-1 run, getting their opponents from Maharashtra all out in the process. With the score 13-6 in favour of the team from the South, Anup Kumar and the Mumbai defence reduced the Titans lead to just 4 points in the 18th minute.

The Rahul Chaudhari-led team scored 2 more points before the end of the half to establish a healthy 6-point lead. The onus was now on Mumbai coach Bhaskaran Edachery to deliver an inspiring team talk to help his team overcome the deficit.

Cometh the hour, cometh the man – Anup Kumar

Shabeer Bapu was caught in the 2nd minute of the second half, which meant he had 0 points from 9 raids in the match. His counterpart, Rahul Chaudhari, was also having an off day as he failed to get a single raid point throughout the match and also spent most of his time on the bench.

U Mumba slowly reduced Titans’ lead to just 2 points and reduced them to just 1 man in the 32nd minute. Despite being just 1 man away from an all out, Sukesh Hegde delivered the goods, coming back with a super raid to re-instate captain Rahul Chaudhari and another Titan.

With 3 Titans on the field, U Mumba went for another all out and got it this time to make it a 1-point game with 5 minutes left in the match. Anup Kumar ensured Mumbai took the lead, when he tagged 2 Titans players before returning to his half as U Mumba led 25-24 in the 37th minute.

The team from Maharashtra did not relinquish the lead till the end as they emerged victorious with a narrow 27-26 score. Anup Kumar scored 10 points in the match, 9 raid and 1 bonus point as U Mumba won their 6th consecutive match, while Telugu Titans lost their first match of second season after 3 consecutive wins.

Man of the match: Anup Kumar

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Watch the highlights of the match here.

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