The Maha Mumbai Kabaddi League opener at the Vishal Sahyadri Kreedangan in Charkop, Kandivli saw D N D Bhiwandi Titans ambush Jawli Tigers 36-34 in an exciting clash. Sitting pretty with a 29-23 lead with five minutes left on the clock, the Tigers lost due to their rank bad defence which led to an all-out on the last raid and yielded three points to the ultimate winners.
The second match saw Kurla Kings outclass the Lalbaug Lion 31-20. Styled on the Pro-Kabaddi League, this tournament is being played under floodlights on a synthetic surface. Jointly organised by the Abhinav Kala Kreeda Academy and OH Media under the aegis of the Maharashtra State Kabaddi Association, it aims to help aspiring youngsters to get a feel of top-class competition.
The Bhiwandi-Jawli clash was like a pendulam right from the start as the lead kept changing hands to send the sizeable crowd into a tizzy. But the winners went ahead 16-13 at the break after Captain Raju Lohar came up with a brilliant super raid and Amir Dhumal chipped in with a couple of points. Raju vaulted over the rival chain like a panther and escaped towards the centre line, which was the best manoeuvre of the day. The tussle for supremacy continued till the 19th minute when Jawli Tigers gradually moved further with some good raiding by skipper Nilesh Ugale.
Jawli’s Rohit Jadhav used his height and reach to garner points, nine to be precise with a couple of three pointers. Rohit’s play was similarly matched by his mate Rakesh Khairnar (9). But Rohit was trapped at a crucial juncture and that hurt his side. For Bhiwandi, raider Ninad Tawde was in full cry. He accounted for 11 points with some quick-silver footwork that deceived the rival defence into making costly errors. And most crucially, he got a couple of opponents in the dying stages that sealed victory.
Kurla Kings started very strongly as Akash Kadam stormed the rival citadel right from the word go to set the warning bells ringing. He accounted for 11 raid points from 14 forays into rival territory. Once his mates started trapping rival raiders regularly, it turned out to be a totally one-sided affair.
The finals are scheduled for January 21, with the six teams playing a round robin league followed by the elimination knock-out fashioned on the lines of the IPL.
