Hyderabad, Nov 5 (IANS) Amirmohammad Zafardanesh, Manjeet and Rohit Raghav starred as former champions U Mumba picked up their third win of the season, overcoming Season 2 winner Dabang Delhi K.C. 32-26 in a hard-fought battle at the GMCB Indoor Stadium here on Tuesday.

It was a fast start from Manjeet and Ashu Malik, with both raiders getting 4 of the first 6 points for U Mumba and Dabang Delhi K.C. respectively. Amirmohammad Zafardanesh soon joined the party for U Mumba, giving them a two-point lead with a couple of sharp raids halfway through the first half.

The defenders soon took charge though, exchanging blows to make sure they didn’t give away any easy points. Yogesh stood tall for Dabang Delhi K.C. with 4 points in the first half, while Sunil Kumar and Sombir did the defensive work for U Mumba. The latter gave U Mumba the lead in the last play of the first half, with a strong tackle to close out a closely contested half at 14-13.

U Mumba came flying off the blocks in the second half as Manjeet scored a two-point raid. Amirmohammad Zafardanesh followed that up by inflicting an All Out to give U-Mumba a 6-point lead.

Dabang Delhi K.C. managed a response of their own with their captain leading from the front. Ashu Malik scored a couple of points to reduce the deficit for his side as they looked to fight back.

Rohit Raghav emerged as the hero for U Mumba towards the end with crucial exchanges in the second half. The Season 2 champions managed to slow things down in the final stages of the game, protecting a 6-point lead with under four minutes to go.

Dabang Delhi K.C. wasn’t going to go down without a fight though. Yogesh completed his Super 5, while Ashu Malik completed his Super 10 to cut the gap down to 3 points with under two minutes to go.

With the tension palpable, Manjeet came in clutch for U Mumba in the end, tackling Ashu Malik and following it up with a raid, while Amirmohammad Zafardanesh closed the door on any possibility of a comeback for the Season 8 champions.