Welcome to Sportstar's coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Shyam Vasudevan and I will be taking you through today's PKL 8 match between Haryana Steelers and U Mumba.
Haryana Steelers moves to the sixth spot on the Pro Kabaddi League standings as it holds U Mumba to a 24-24 tie. Haryana Steelers had a slender two-point at half-time and was the better team for a majority of the game, but an All Out and a late surge from Mohsen saw U Mumba claw its way into the match. U Mumba's raiders, Abhishek and Ajith, failed to make an impact while rode on Rohit Gulia's all-round brilliance.
We have another exciting game in store as Pardeep Narwal's UP Yoddha faces the Tamil Thalaivas. You can join my colleague Lavanya on that game here -
WE HAVE A TIE!
24-24 VIKASH GETS FAZEL! Fazel makes a poor tackle and Vikash has his man! Scores are level with 20 seconds and U Mumba is down to one man!
23-24 Mohsen undoes all hard work by making a rather unnecessary ankle hold on Vikash and the Haryana Steelers skipper skips away!
22-24 Mohsen delivers yet again! He gets rid of the big fish - Surender Nada!
22-23 Ouch, that's going to sting! Vikash catches Ashish on the face a backward kick and it remains a one-point game.
21-23 Mohsen manages to pick up a bonus point right under Surender Nada's nose!
Haryana Steelers coach Rakesh: "Don't give them any bonus points! Vikash, try to score points."
21-22 Excellent work from Vinay! He darts al across the mat before getting a running hand touch on Ajith. Great raid for the Haryana Steelers.
20-22 Ajinkya Kapre comes off the bench and scores a bonus point, but gets tackled right after. A rash reaction from Surender Nada sees him pick up a green card.
19-21 Rinku makes his second successful error. This time around he targets Rohit's ankle but the Haryana Steelers all-rounder nonchalantly wriggles out of it.
U Mumba has scored only two bonus points today.
18-19 Rohit ensures his side remains withing sniffing distance! He slips past two defenders but misses out on the bonus to score two points.
16-19 ALL OUT FOR U MUMBA! Rajesh Narwal is no match for the U Mumba defence and Fazel's side is now in the ascendancy!
15-16 Ajith does really well and gets past Mohit. He stretches and twists his body but Surender escapes his grasp.
The scores are level now at 15-15 with 10 minutes and 10 seconds to go. The Haryana Steelers have remained ahead for large parts of this match but are also notorious for losing from a leading position - they have done so twice this season.
15-15 Review successful! Fazel strikes as Vinay has to make the walk back to the bench. Haryana Steelers are now down to two men and are staring at an All Out unless Surender and Mohit can pull off a miracle.
Vinay comes in for Jaideep Kuldeep and it's a do-or-die raid. Vinay banks on the bonus point and the umpires award the point, but U Mumba captain Fazel asks for a review.
15-13 Haryana Steelers' coach Rakesh wanted Vikash to target Fazel, but the Iranian who has the last laugh as he gets the better of Vikash. That's the 13th time Fazel has eliminated Vikash in the PKL.
15-12 Surender got a whiff with the last tackle and roars into another massive tackle on Ajith. Surender has a 100% tackle rate today!
14-12 Meetu has been out yet again and it's the combination of the two covers, Rinku and Fazel, that gets the job done.
14-11 Look at the might of Surender, wow! Abhishek does what no raider should do, show the defender your back. Surender charges at Abhishek and ushers him off the mat.
Vikash has spent 14 minutes (and counting) off the mat today!
12-11 Abhishek scores off the first raid of the second half as he gets an easy point out of Ravi.
Rakesh Kumar, Haryana Steelers' coach says : "Vikash, listen, target Fazel. Don't run around the centre, run from one side to the other and get a running hand touch on him."
HALF-TIME! Absolute end-to-end action here with neither side really able to take charge of the game. Haryana Steelers, mainly riding on its defence, has looked the better team and has a slender two-point lead at the interval.
12-10 One captain outs the other! Vikash thinks he's won a point and tries to dart back to his half of the court but runs into a wall in Fazel. There's no way past Fazel!
12-9 Jaideep joins the party as he launches into a superb tackle on Ajith. The U Mumba raider are finding things difficult here.
11-9 A second do-or-die raid for U Mumba and the second time the side fails to score a point. Mohsen makes his first raid but is undone by a massive thigh hold from Ravi. That brings Vikash back on the mat.
10-9 There's no escaping that! Rinku and Mohsen combine to deny Meetu any chance of a point.
10-8 Abhishek is caught off-guard and is tackled to the floor. Haryana Steelers now with a two-point cushion.
9-8 Yikes, it looks like Fazel's somehow managed to read our blog! He throws in a strong challenge to flatten Rohit Gulia.
Much like Surender Nada, even U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali is yet to attempt a tackle today! Are they playing a little too cautiously?
8-7 Super stuff from Rohit - he bags the bonus point and gets the better of Harendra to win his side two points.
6-7 That's a great raid from Abhishek! He slips past Mohit's tackle and Vikash, strangely, gets involved at the very end and gets eliminated too!
Haryana Steelers' Surender Nada is yet to attempt a tackle! He's threatened on a few occasions but is yet to make a tackle.
6-5 Do-or-die raid for U Mumba and Ajith is the man entrusted with the job. He seems to run out of gas at the end and the right corner Mohit traps him with a solid ankle hold.
U Mumba has done really well so far and the side looks in great rhythm and shape. No hasty tackles yet.
4-5 Ashish Sangwan, who makes a comeback to the starting seven, strikes as he launches into a perfect double ankle hold on Meetu.
4-4 Mighty Mohit! He reads Abhishek's movements really well and locks him up with a strong upper body block.
3-4 That was really good work from Abhishek. He draws the tackle from Haryana Steelers and overpowers Ravi's ill-timed dash.
2-3 Vikash, quite unlike of him, charges at Ajith and the U Mumba raider easily escapes the challenge. Haryana Steelers are now without their main raider.
2-2 Vikash bags his first point of the game as he craftily runs past Harendra's tackle. Harendra did not get the support he expected from Mohsen there.
1-2 That's a good start from Ajith as he gets a running hand touch on Jaideep, who has been Haryana Steelers' most impressive defended this season.
0-1 Rohit Gulia with the first raid of the evening and its an unsuccessful one - he gets tackled by Rinku.
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7:25pm: LINE UPS!
Haryana Steelers: Vikash Kandola, Meetu Sharma, Rohit Gulia, Surender Nada, Jaideep Dahiya, Mohit Nandal, Ravi Kumar
U Mumba: Fazel Atrachali, Abhishek Singh, Ajith Kumar, Harendra Kumar, Mohsen M., Ashish Sangwan, Rinku
7:15pm: Head to head stats: The twe sides have played each other nine times in the PKL and U Mumba has emerged victorious in six of those games. Can Haryana Steelers better its record today?
7:05pm: U Mumba, on the other hand, has made a strong start to PKL 8. The former champion is fourth on the points table, six points behind league leader Bengaluru Bulls with a game in hand, and a win today will propel it to the second spot. U Mumba has lost only one of its five matches so far and played out a 28-28 tie with UP Yoddha in its last clash.
6:55pm: Speaking of today's first game, the Haryana Steelers will be hoping to carry on the momentum from the win over Gujarat Giants in the last game. The side has made a poor start to the season and has managed only two wins from five games and is placed 10th on the table. A win against U Mumba today could propel Vikash and co. to the fifth spot.
6:45pm: Hello folks and welcome to our Pro Kabaddi League coverage for the day. I had my weekly off yesterday and it looks like I missed two super exciting clashes! If you too, like me, missed out on yesterday's PKL action, we've got you covered. Here's everything you need to know about the PKL since the turn of the year -
January 3:
January 2:
January 1:
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