Ahmedabad: The Ahmedabad leg of Pro Kabaddi Season 5 opened with the home team Gujarat Fortunegiants facing U Mumba at The Arena yesterday. Gujarat entered the match after a defeat in their last game to Haryana Steelers. Mumbai, on the other hand, stepped onto the match high on confidence following back-to-back wins. With Sukesh Hegde and Anup Kumar leading the two teams, the Ahmedabad leg opener had everyone looking forward to the match in anticipation.

The match began with home team captain Hegde winning the toss. Anup Kumar and Abozar Mighani opened the raid department for Gujarat and Mumbai respectively. However, it was through Hegde’s raid that Gujarat opened their account. From the very first minute onwards, the Fortunegiants completely dominated U Mumba and handed them their first All-Out in the 7th minute, with the scoreline reading 9-1. Nothing went U Mumba’s way in the first half as they soon succumbed to their second All-Out in the 19th minute. They brought Kashiling Adake onto the mat to give depth to the raiding department but it went in vain as they ended the half trailing 20-6.

The second half started with the captains opening the raid for their respective teams. U Mumba tried to make inroads into the match but Gujarat showed no signs of yielding. A super tackle by Adake in the 25th minute led the U Mumba charge, giving them some hope. However, Anup spent more than 15 minutes off the court, which affected his team’s performance greatly.

A series of do-or-die raids ensued soon, where Gujarat’s young brigades – Sachin and Rohit Gulia – showed sparks of brilliance. It was just not U Mumba’s night as they again faced yet another All-Out, their third of the match in the 38th minute. The match eventually ended 39-21 in the favour of the home team, who now jumped to the top position in Zone A with 13 points from four matches.