Puneri Paltan faced off against the Gujarat Fortunegiants in the last match and like everyone, we expected Nitin Tomar to be the decisive player. The raider par excellence was neutralized by the Gujarat Fortunegiants, who seemed to have spent much of their time planning an effective strategy against him. As things turned out, the Puneri Paltan has more than one string to its bow.
Pune struck back with a brilliant defensive display of its own as it scored 6 Super Tackles in the match! Ravi Kumar was the star of the defense and finished with a High 5 but Monu also deserves credit for his contribution of 7 points.
We think that this solid defensive display by Pune would have given the side a lot of confidence going up against U Mumba because as far as attacks go, theirs is one of the best in the tournament.
U Mumba drew against Puneri Paltan in the first match that the two sides played against each other. The last two matches, though, that U Mumba has played have been resounding victories and so they will not be short of self-belief as they line up against Puneri Paltan.
Siddharth Desai, Rohit Baliyan, and Abhishek Singh have been absolutely stunning for U Mumba in the raiding department. Siddharth Desai has three Super-10’s in four matches and scored 15 in his last match against the Haryana Steelers.
The defense for U Mumba is led by their captain, Fazal Atrachali, who just like his counterpart in this game, is a left corner defender of supreme pedigree. Fazal has 16 tackle points to his name already and has been unmovable in defense. He got good support from Surender Singh in the last match and will want to ensure another strong performance this time around.
Both teams have some solid defenders and an exciting attack.
U Mumba has won 7 out of the 12 matches played between the two sides. Puneri Paltan has won just 4 with the remaining match being a tie. There is no doubt that both sides are going to be solid contenders to play in the knockout stages but will want to get an upper hand over each other while getting there.
These are two similar teams that are going to be a handful for every opponent. Puneri Paltan is playing at home and will have the crowd at its back. U Mumba is undefeated so far and has found a combination which seems to be working perfectly so far.
We think the better-organized defense of U Mumba and its young set of raiders should win this contest.
Back U Mumba to win.