Heavy rains in Mumbai played spoilsport as both the Pro Kabaddi League matches were called-off on Tuesday as the players failed to reach the venue due to traffic snarls at multiple locations in the city.
On the 28th day of Pro Kabaddi Season 5 at the Dome@NSCI SVP Stadium, Bengaluru Bulls were scheduled to take on UP Yoddha in the match no. 51. Whereas, in the match no. 52 hosts U Mumba were to face Gujarat Fortunegiants in the second match of the day.
For U.P. Yoddha's, the fiery duo of Nitin Tomar-Rishank Devadiga have outdid the Rohit Kumar-Ajay Kumar pairing in their last meeting, they managed to secure victory for U.P. Yoddha in Nagpur. The U.P. raiders are in fine form, especially Devadiga, but the defence, led by Jeeva Kumar, has been looking vulnerable of late, which the Bengaluru raiders might try to exploit. Whereas, Bengaluru Bulls have failed to find an able support for their skipper Rohit Kumar and that has hurt the team in view of their six losses in 10 matches. In defence, Ravinder Pahal has been a lone star for the Bulls but he may be under pressure to perform after picking up a red card on Sunday and against an aggressive side.
Meanwhile, hosts U Mumba have so far struggled in this edition of PKL. Mumba suffered their third straight home loss on Sunday to Dabang Delhi K.C. whereas Gujarat led by inspirational Suresh Hegde have emerged as one of the most dominant sides in the competion and finished their home leg unbeaten. On August 30, U Mumba will take on Haryana Steelers.
Earlier, torrential rain accompanied by strong winds pummelled Mumbai on Tuesday, disrupting rail, road and air services, uprooting trees, swamping homes, and bringing the megapolis and satellite towns to their knees.
People's woes were compounded by the high tide that prevented natural drainage of water into the sea.
Meteorological department sources said Mumbai recorded copious rain of 65 mm in just three hours.
Thousands of vehicles were stranded on arterial roads in Lower Parel, Dadar, Kurla, Andheri, Khar West, Ghatkopar, Sion and Hindmata areas that were under knee to waist deep water for several hours, many having broken down.
Trains were running late or stopped on all three suburban railway lines--Central, North and Harbour lines--as tracks were submerged at several places.
Having waited for hours on end with water showing no signs of receding, fidgety passengers were seen jumping off stationary trains and walking along the tracks to their destinations.
(With PTI Inputs)
