PKL-12: Ajit and Parvesh’s brilliance helps U Mumba defeat Jaipur and secure a spot in the top 4

Riding on stellar performances from Ajit Chouhan (15 points) and Parvesh Bhainswal (7 points in defense), U Mumba defeated Jaipur Pink Panthers 37-36 in the 101st match of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 12 at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium on Tuesday, securing a place in the Top 4.

Alongside Parvesh and Ajit, captain Sunil Kumar also contributed with 4 points in what turned out to be U Mumba’s 10th win in 17 matches. On the other hand, a win in this match could have secured a Top-8 spot for Jaipur, but despite strong performances from Nitin Dhankhar (13 points), Parvinder (5 points), and Himanshu Khatri (5 points), they suffered their ninth defeat in 17 games. Jaipur still has one match remaining — and winning it could keep their playoff hopes alive. The team currently sits at 7th position.

At the start, Nitin Dhankhar dismissed Sunil three times in a row, yet U Mumba managed to take a 4-3 lead after three minutes. Nitin then equalized the score with his fourth consecutive point and followed it up with a multi-point raid, giving Jaipur a two-point lead. Deepanshu earned Jaipur’s first tackle point, taking the score to 8-6. However, Mumba had a super tackle opportunity, and Parvesh Bhainswal executed it brilliantly on Samadhi. The first quarter ended 9-8 in Jaipur’s favor.

Mumba soon turned things around, scoring two points through a super tackle to take a 10-9 lead, followed by Satish dismissing Ashish to stretch the lead to two. Captain Sunil then tackled Nitin, but Satish put Jaipur on a super tackle opportunity, and Aryan capitalized by catching Ajit to make it 11-14. However, Mumba quickly pushed Jaipur to the brink of an all-out, completing it soon after to take a 19-12 lead. By halftime, U Mumba had extended their advantage to 10 points.

After the break, Parvesh completed his High-5. Though Parvinder tackled Sunil in defense, Ajit responded with a super raid, completing his Super-10. Mumba’s defense then caught Nitin again, increasing the lead to 12 points. Jaipur fought back to reduce it to 10, and Parvinder’s super raid brought Mumba down to just two players. By the 30-minute mark, Mumba led 29-22 but were under threat of being all-out.

Jaipur did manage to inflict the all-out, narrowing the score to 29-26. They added two more points to make it a one-point game, but Mumba held their composure to extend the lead to four again. Parvinder brought it down to three, and with two minutes remaining, Nitin forced an error from Jafar, cutting the gap to two. However, Nitin was then dashed out, and although Ajit was caught in the next raid, he had already claimed a bonus point. In the end, Mumba’s defense successfully tackled Parvinder in the final moments to seal the victory.