Ranchi, Sep 20: Maintaining their 100 percent win record over Mumbai, Gujarat Fortunegiants thrashed U Mumba 45-23 at the Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium in Ranchi on Wednesday (September 20) and registered their third win the league against Mumbai.
Chandran Ranjit (11 points in total) and Sachin's Super-10 performances coupled with their Iranian star defender Fazel Atrachali's High 5 (total 6 points) trounced the U Mumba who seemed unsettled against Zone A toppers from the start.
Gujarat started with flair picking up four consecutive raid points to make their intent clear. In the absence of Sukesh Hegde, Atrachali was given Gujarat's captaincy reins and he steered the team well. Mumbai, however, were not to be written off and answered with two super tackles to lead 9-7 after the first quarter.
But Gujarat, who are yet to lose a match against Mumbai, dominated the second quarter completely. Ranjit pulled off a super raid that soon handed U Mumba their first All-Out of the match in the 11th minute. A brilliant display from Sachin and a couple of errors from the Mumbaikars led to the second All-Out of the night on U Mumba as Gujarat ended the first half leading 24-12.
Trailing by 12 points, U Mumba started the second half holding a high line of defence and attacking only in do-or-die raids. This defensive approach helped them in pulling off two super tackles on Gujarat but the latter's attack and defence both were on fire.
In the 34th minute, U Mumba faced their third All-Out of the night as Ranjit took out the remaining two defenders off the court to complete his first Pro Kabaddi Super 10. Sachin and Atrachali completed their Super 10 and High 5 respectively a minute later to pile on the agony for U Mumba. The curtains came down with Gujarat winning with a 22-point margin to keep their undefeated record against U Mumba intact.
Mumba's attack failed badly as they could only manage to score 12 points while Gujarat had 23 tackle points under their name. Their star raider and skipper Anup was kept silent all through the match by Atrachali.