U Mumba and Haryana Steelers played out a highly entertaining high octane 44-44 tie in the final game of PKL Season 10’s leg at the DOME by NSCI here on Wednesday night.
While Jaideep Dahiya’s brilliant defending earned him 8 tackle points, the real star of the game was Amirmohammad Zafardanesh, who almost single-handedly got his side a deserved tie with 14 raid points.
The Haryana Steelers kicked off at a blistering pace and had, within minutes, reduced the U Mumba numbers on the mat. It wasn’t just via raiding though, as Jaideep Dahiya in defence was imperious, logging an impressive 4 raid points in the first half itself — over half of the Haryana Steelers’ total for the period.
They inflicted the first All-Out of the game in the seventh minute to take a 11-6 lead and things looked bleak for the home side.
In the next quarter of the game though U Mumba’s team rallied together, Amirmohammad Zafardanesh’s ability to constantly pick up bonus points, and Siddharth Desai’s Super raid at the end of the half drawing them to within three to end the half.
Despite having only three players on the mat at the beginning of the second half, the Haryana Steelers, courtesy of a Super Tackle and some brilliant raiding, streaked into a 9 point lead within two minutes.
The see-saw nature of the encounter ensured that they wouldn’t have the last say, as U Mumba slowly edged their way back. It took them nine minutes of the half, but eventually they inflicted an All-Out to erase that nine point deficit to draw level at 30 apiece.
The momentum swung the other way almost immediately as the Haryana Steelers defence held together and created a second All-Out to take a five-point lead.
U Mumba inflicted a second All-Out to draw level at 44 apiece, with 40 seconds left. Neither team could break the deadlock in the dying seconds as they took a deserved point apiece.
