Welcome to Sportstar's coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Nihit Sachdeva and I will be taking you through today's PKL 8 match between U Mumba and Patna Pirates.
Before you leave, do take some time to vote for your favourite athletes/teams in the 2022 Sportstar Aces Awards. CLICK HERE TO VOTE
Meanwhile, you can also check out our Kings of Kabaddi series from PKL 7 - a happier time pre-COVID when we got to physically sit down with some of the biggest names in the league and hear their stories. You can check out all episodes here:
Summary: Raiders Sachin and Guman Singh helped table-topper Patna Pirates beat U Mumba 47-36. Sachin (16 points) and Guman Singh (11 points) were in top form for the three-time champion as it consolidated its position on top of the points table with a comfortable victory. U Mumba’s Abhishek Singh (13 points) and Ajith Kumar (11 points) got their Super 10s but the team, especially captain Fazel Atrachali, struggled to provide the support from the defence.
36-47: SUPER RAID!!! Final raid of the match, U Mumba played the high-line to make it impossible for Sachin to make the raid legal unless he got the touch point. The raider first ran down the clock and then went to the left corner to cross the baulk line. Fazel and others tried to trap him in the ankle hold but the Pirates raider has been simply unstoppable tonight. He used his long reach and crossed the mid-line easily to finish the match with 15 raid points.
35-44: Failed ankle hold of Fazel and Sachin gets the point to increase the tension in the U Mumba camp.
35-43: Monu with the erronous tackle attempt and Ajith walks back with a touch point.
34-43: Another quick raid from Ajith and he gets a touch point of the dangerous Iranian. Shadloui is off.
33-43: Neeraj commits for the ankle hold which was not there and Ajith quickly runs back with the point. U Mumba needs to reduce the deficit to seven or less to get atleast one point from this.
32-43: Do-or-die raid and yet again Guman Singh fails to get anything except getting trapped in the ankle hold on the right corner.
31-43: Not this time, Shivam. Good block from the front and a strong back hold by Monu takes down the U Mumba raider.
31-42: Shivam with an intelligent raid caught Sunil in wrong position and walked back with an easy touch point.
30-42: Abhishek goes in for the raid and spends most of his time trying to take a touch off Shadloui. Neeraj and Sajin come in with the dash and push him off.
Final strategic time out. Five minutes to go and another win for Patna looks done.
30-41: Do-or-die raid for Patna and Guman goes in. He rushes to the left corner for the running hand touch but Fazel smartly crouches to block him.
29-41: Ajith is off. Solid block by Shadloui.
29-40: Abhishek jumps over Sajin but then gets tackled by Sunil. There are rarely any holes in this Patna defence.
29-39: Lovely work by Abhishek. He does the same to Monu what he did to Neeraj.
28-39: SUPER 10 FOR GUMAN as he picks up the bonus.
28-38: A quick raid by Abhishek and he gets the running hand touch on Sunil at the right corner.
27-38: An injured Ajith Kumar goes for yet another raid and gets a touch point off Neeraj.
26-38: ALL OUT!!! Shivam surrenders in front of Guman to save time. Patna is well and truly on the driving seat.
First strategic time out. Ten minutes to go and a mountain to climb for U Mumba.
26-35: Last raid before the first strategic time out and it is an unsuccessful one for Abhishek who has been completely mobbed near the mid-line.
26-34: Guman goes in for the raid, tries to take a touch off Shivam on the right corner, misses it but back tracks and negotiates Harender's block successfully.
26-33: SUPER TACKLE!!!! Great dash by Shivam to push Sachin off the mat.
24-33: Bonus for Abhishek.
23-33: SUPER RAID!!!! Monu (not Goyat) with a superb raid first gets a touch off Fazel and then just blazes the defenders who came for the block.
23-30: Brilliant raid by sub raider Shivam. It was a do-or-die raid, Fazel had told him that they will go for him and they did. Guman tried the ankle hold but it was a loose one and the raider made it back to his side of the mat.
22-30: SUPER TACKLE!!! Do-or-die raid for Sachin with three U Mumba players on the mat. He gets the touch off Rinku who then jumps for his ankle and gets hold of it before the others come for the assist. Timely two points for U Mumba.
20-30: Massive block by substitute Monu and he sends Ajith off the mat.
20-29: Guman comes in for the raid but does not need to do much as Harender steps out of bounds on his own.
20-28: Guman Singh contributes in defence and how! He takes down U Mumba's main raider Abhishek Singh.
20-27: Perfect toe touch and Sachin Tanwar sends Fazel to the bench.
20-26: Ajith Kumar provided the kind of start U Mumba would have hoped for. Touch points off Sajin and Sunil.
Well, that was a breathtaking first half. Patna Pirates started the match strongly and before you knew it, inflicted the All Out. U Mumba regrouped and turned it around to inflict an All Out on the table topper and reduce the deficit to 14-16. However, Sachin Tanwar swiped five of U Mumba's men in a single raid. U Mumba will have to get that raid out of its system quickly and believe it can catch Patna once again.
HALF-TIME: U Mumba 18-26 Patna Pirates
18-26: Error from Shadloui who went too far ahead for the ankle hold on Abhishek. The U Mumba raider cleverly retreated while picking another touch point mid-way.
16-25: ALL OUT!!!! Abhishek Singh unable to avoid the all out this time as he jumps over one wall of defence after picking the bonus but then gets trapped in the second.
15-22: U Mumba is down to a single man as Sachin picks up a touch off Harendra. SUPER 10 FOR SACHIN.
15-21: Abhishek picks up a bonus.
14-21: SUPER RAID!!!! Massive four-point raid for Sachin Tanwar!!! Rahul Sethpal initiated the tackle with a thigh hold before three others came in. He somehow managed to get his hand to the mid-line. The officials think he crossed the mid-line and have given the points to him. However, U Mumba has used its review. The replay shows that Sachin barely got his fingers across the mid-line and in fact, he gets one more touch point.
14-16: ALL OUT!!! What a turnaround from U Mumba!!! Guman Singh could only pick the bonus before he got his ankle trapped.
11-15: Patna down to one man now as Abhishek picks up a running hand touch off Sunil.
10-15: Do-or-die raid for Guman who picks up an easy bonus on offer.
10-14: Another touch point from the left corner for Abhishek and this time Sajin is off to the bench.
9-14: Abhishek Singh goes in for the next raid and makes full use of Shadloui's absence to pick up a touch point off Neeraj on the left corner.
8-14: Ouch!! This is a big blow for U Mumba. Ajith Kumar went in for the raid and picked up a bonus as well as a touch point off Shadloui but twisted his ankle badly while returning.
6-14: Rahul Sethpal with a strong ankle hold takes down Sachin. Need more of this if U Mumba is to have a chance.
4-13: ALL OUT!!! And now it is done. Sachin puts in the raid with just Fazel on the mat. The U Mumba skipper does not surrender and makes Sachin earn the touch point.
4-10: Do-or-die raid for U Mumba, Abhishek goes in and this time Shadloui gets his man with a brutal ankle hold.
4-9: Do-or-die raid for Patna, Sachin goes in with three U Mumba players on the mat and he returns with a quick touch point off sub Baljinder.
4-8: SUPER RAID!!! Abhishek Singh helps U Mumba avoid the All Out! The raider first picked a bonus and then back tracked quickly to go past Sajin's and Neeraj's attempted blocks.
1-8: Reckless defending from U Mumba and Guman walks back with two touch points.
1-6: Strong start continues for the Pirates as they mob Ajith Kumar.
1-5: Lovely running hand touch by Sachin and Rahul Sethpal is off.
1-4: Unbelievable stretch by Guman and he gets a running hand touch to send Fazel to the bench.
1-3: First point of the night for U Mumba and it is Ajith who wins it with a running hand touch off Sajin.
0-3: Prashanth Rai does a brilliant dubki in his opening raid to deceive Harendra and Rahul Sethpal. Two touch points.
0-1: Sachin Tanwar comes in for the opening raid and picks a bonus.
---------
TOSS - U Mumba wins the toss and select right side of the court. Patna Pirates to raid first.
LINE UPS!
U Mumba: Abhishek Singh, Fazel Atrachali, Sunil, Harendra Kumar, Ajinkya Kapre, Rinku, Ajith Kumar
Patna Pirates: Prashanth Kumar Rai (c), Sachin Tanwar, Neeraj Kumar, Sajin C, Guman Singh, Sunil, Mohammadreza Chiyaneh Shadloui
8:20pm: U Mumba vs Patna Pirates head-to-head
Played: 15
U Mumba: 9
Patna Pirates: 5
Tied: 1
The Pirates dismantled U Mumba 43-23 in their first meeting this season.
8:15pm: U Mumba has been inconsistent but find itself sixth on the points table. It was stellar in the first half against the Tamil Thalaivas but was completely out of sorts in the second. They hung on to win the game by two points, but coach Rajaguru Subramanian will expect his side to manage games better than it did against the Thalaivas. Raider Abhishek Singh bagged his sixth Super 10 of the season, while V Ajith Kumar played an excellent supporting role and scored seven raid points. U Mumba have won five and tied one game when Abhishek scores a Super 10. The team will hope a seventh Super 10 is forthcoming on Tuesday against the Pirates.
8:10pm: The Patna Pirates has been in scintillating form of late. It has won three games on the trot and has claimed the top spot on the points table and also has a game in hand over second-placed Dabang Delhi K.C. Its defence has been dominant and has averaged 12.33 tackle points in its last three matches. Mohammadreza Chiyaneh has scored three straight High 5 and will be looking for a fourth against compatriot Fazel Atrachali’s side. The Pirates is the most in-form side in vivo PKL and is playing excellent kabaddi on both sides of the mat. It would take a mighty effort from a team to upstage the Pirates.
8:05pm: In case if you're new to this sport, here's a simple explainer that covers all the rules of the game and the various terms such as 'All Out', 'Do-or-die' and 'Super Tackle'-
8pm: Good evening and welcome to our live coverage of the second and final PKL 8 match of the day between U Mumba and Patna Pirates. But before that, here's a recap of what happened last night in the PKL over the last fortnight-
Comments
SHARE