U Mumba Hold Nerves in Thrilling Tie-Breaker Against Haryana Steelers; Qualify for PKL 12 Top Eight

Delhi: U Mumba registered a thrilling 7-4 win in the tiebreaker against Haryana Steelers, an important victory that helped them into the top eight in PKL Season 12 at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium in Delhi on Sunday. Sandeep’s 9 points was the most important moment for the winning team.

Steelers started the match strongly and took the first point with a successful raid by Vinay. Shortly after, Jaideep’s brilliant interception added another point to give the Steelers an early 1-2 lead. Shivam Patare then helped the team increase their advantage with a superb two-point raid. Steelers’ defense also looked sharp and put constant pressure on the U Mumba raiders.

Maintaining their momentum, the Steelers implemented ALL OUT early in the first five minutes of the game and took a 3-10 lead. However, U Mumba helped them narrow the gap to 7-10 with Sandeep’s Super Raid. Despite this effort, the Steelers continued to dominate both offensively and defensively, maintaining control of the game. When the Strategic Time-out was taken in the first half, Haryana Steelers were comfortably ahead 8-13.

After the match restarted, U Mumba made a strong start by winning the first point with a solid tackle from Vijay Kumar. However, Haryana Steelers responded quickly with Jaideep making another successful tackle to give his team momentum.

Over the next few minutes both sides displayed great intensity on the mat, exchanging points. The Steelers then regained control with a great Super Tackle and added two more points, pushing the lead to 12-18.

But U Mumba fought back strongly. Ajit Chouhan led the attack with a successful raid that helped his team execute ALL OUT, earning five points and reducing the deficit to 17-19. The momentum shifted hard towards U Mumba, who kept up the pressure and soon leveled the score at 19-19.

When the first half ended, both teams were fighting for equality, and the scoreboard showed 20-20.

As the second half began, U Mumba struck first with a successful raid from Sandeep and took the early lead. U Mumba briefly held a two-point advantage before Haryana Steelers hit back with Super Tackle to level the score at 22-22 as Jaideep High completed his 5th.

A few minutes later the Steelers produced another Super Tackle to take a 23-24 lead, but U Mumba quickly leveled and then took the lead again thanks to a superb tackle from Rinku. The Steelers immediately responded with a Super Tackle to regain the one-point lead. When the Strategic Time-out was called, Haryana Steelers were leading 25-28, maintaining a three-point lead after a tense and close-fought period.

When the game restarted, Parvesh Bhainswal’s intervention gave U Mumba the first point and the difference reached 26-28. Haryana Steelers responded immediately with Rahul making a brilliant interception to restore the momentum. Sandeep’s powerful Super Raid put U Mumba ahead 31-30, which they followed up with ALL OUT to extend the lead to 34-31.

With less than a minute remaining, the Steelers tackled Sahil Narwal, whose tackle tied the scores. But U Mumba struck again; A crucial Super Tackle gave them two points and a late lead.

The Steelers refused to give up. Mayank Saini made a successful attack for a point and Sahil Narwal made a great interception to make the score 37-37 and force the game into a tiebreaker. Haryana Steelers started the tiebreaker strongly and took the lead early by scoring the first point in the opening raid.

However, U Mumba quickly responded with a successful raid to level the score. Steelers soon regained the lead, but once again U Mumba struggled to get things back on track.

With the score tied at 3-3, U Mumba’s defense stepped up at a crucial moment and made an excellent tackle to take the lead 4-3. Soon after, Sathish Kannan pulled off a game-changing Super Raid to earn three vital points and extend U Mumba’s lead to 7-3. This proved to be the decisive moment as U Mumba held their nerve and sealed an impressive tiebreaker win.