Ajit Chavan stars as U Mumba clinch thrilling win vs Jaipur Pink Panthers

Hyderabad, Oct 31 (IANS) U Mumba battled hard and overcame the challenge from the Jaipur Pink Panthers, to pick up a thrilling win at the GMCB Indoor Stadium, here on Thursday.

U Mumba won the contest with a scoreline of 39-37. For U Mumba, it was Ajit Chavan who scored the most points with 14 to his name, while Neeraj Narwal got 12 for the Jaipur Pink Panthers. Rinku and Amirmohammad Zafardanesh also added 4 points each for the U Mumba side.

Ajit Chavan’s early flurry of points ensured that the U Mumba would have a good start against the Jaipur Pink Panthers, who took time to get going. And in the initial phase of the contest, the U Mumba side had the better of the Jaipur Pink Panthers.

Neeraj Narwal and Vikash Kandola were leading the charge for the Jaipur Pink Panthers and by the 10th minute they turned things around, and brought the contest to level terms. For the U Mumba side, Ajit Chavan and Rinku were doing most of the heavy lifting early on. Around the 12th minute, the U Mumba inflicted an ALL OUT on the Jaipur Pink Panthers, and got themselves some breathing space. As the half wore on, U Mumba kept their opposition at bay, and at the half-time break, they led 19-16.

The second half saw both teams start cautiously in the initial minutes. Early on though, a solid defensive performance saw the Jaipur Pink Panthers cut down the deficit to 1-point. And 7 minutes into the half, the Jaipur Pink Panthers’ Lucky Sharma landed an important ALL OUT and got their noses out in front of U Mumba.

At the half hour mark, the two sides were tied at 27-27. And while Ajit Chavan had reached 12 points for U Mumba, Neeraj Narwal and Arjun Deshwal were leading the way for the Jaipur Pink Panthers. After that, in the final phase of the game, U Mumba fought back and stormed into the lead once again, and were doing just about enough to keep the Jaipur Pink Panthers at bay. However, the game was on a knife edge, which set up a close finish.

In the final couple of minutes, the Jaipur Pink Panthers gave it their all, but the U Mumba side had enough in the tank to win what was a very well contested game.

--IANS

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