Anup's faith paid off as he sent Shabeer for his side’s last raid with the score 26-25 in their favour and the latter did the job.
He got Telugu Titans’ man of the match Deepak Hudda who had contributed to his side’s defence in addition to his role in attack. That valuable point left Sukesh Hegde of Titans to score three for a win, he got one.
Mumbai were overjoyed. They had kept their unbeaten record intact.
For Titans this was their first defeat in four matches. U Mumba have now a tally of 30 points with Titans a distant second with 16 after having pocketed one today for the less than seven point defeat.
Mumbai led briefly in the initial stage but then conceded the all out to trail 6-13 in the 13th minute. It was the tall Prashant Rai with Deepak Hudda who did the early damage.
Rishank did the bulk of scoring getting Rahul and Rajaguru in one raid and then pinning down Sukesh Hegde. U Mumba were worried as Shabeer was a pale shadow of his self.
On the other side Rahul Chaudhari too drew a blank and he being off court for close to 18 minutes harmed the Titans.
Titans kept up the pressure with D Gopu playing his first match as a right corner and with Deepak showing an uncanny knack in catching a couple of rivals, they went into a comfortable lead of 17-11 by half-time. They maintained it later as Mumbai tried all tricks. Titans saw Sukesh Hegde being pushed out by Vishal Mane followed by Prashant Rai and Deepak going out in do-or-die raids.
Although Shabeer kept failing, Anup came up with something special to dismiss Gopu and Rajguru to get Mumbai closer. Hudda in the meantime came up with two catches to help his side keep its nose ahead. A super raid by Sukesh with a bonus and two victims meant Titans were up 23-18.
It was at this point Anup raised his game a couple of notches higher. He accounted for Iranian Meraj Sheykh, Prashant Rai and Sukesh with deft touches and in three successive raids whittled down the lead 20-23. With Rishank accounting for last man Sandeep who managed a bonus the scores stood at 23-24 with the Titans getting all-out.
Anup was at full strength now. He got Sandeep and Rajaguru after the former tackled him. He insisted on a video referral as the officials rule only Sandeep out. Having snatched the lead in the 38th minute it was a tactical game thereafter for both. Shabeer came up with that million dollar raid and Mumbai were home-free to secure their 6th consecutive win.
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