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 U Mumba and Telugu Titans.
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Summary: U Mumba has snapped its run of back-to-back ties with a fine win over Telugu Titans. The game saw U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali bring up his first High-5 of the season, while Abhishek Singh soared to another Super 10. We now head into the final game of the evening as Jaipur Pink Panthers takes on Tamil Thalaivas. Join my colleague Nihit Sachdeva on the live blog here:
FULL-TIME: U Mumba defeats Telugu Titans 42-35.
42-35 Adarsh picks up a point on his final raid and ensures his side takes a point from the game.
41-34 SUPER RAID FOR ADARSH! He bags the bonus and gets the better of two men, including Fazel, to pick up a Super 10 !
41-31 SUPER RAID! Abhishek gets a running hand touch on the right corner, overpowers Rajnish's challenge and ducks under Surinder's hold to pick up three massive points. That takes his evening's tally to 14 points!
38-31 Rahul and Fazel combine to perfection and flatten Ankit on the mat.
37-30 That is pure class from Ajinkya - he gets rid of two defenders and revives Fazel and Abhishek.
35-30 That's poor work from Rinku. He can't hold himself back and makes a meek attempt to tackle Adarsh, who coolly skips away.
35-29 It takes the collective strength of five Telugu Titans defenders, led by Sandeep, to tackle Ajith. Sandeep appears to have hurt his hand in the process and is wincing in pain.
35-28 Adarsh picks up a point to reduce the deficit to seven points. Under six minutes of play left! Can the Titans stage a late comeback?
35-27 SUPER TACKLE! Sandeep plays the patient game and pounces at the right moment to deny Abhishek.
34-25 Fazel joins the party as he takes out Rajnish with an unbreakable thigh hold.
33-25 Phenomenal work from Abhishek as he gets a running hand touch and ducks under the tackle of another defender and claims two huge points. SUPER 10 for Abhishek!
31-25 Rajnish runs circles around the U Mumba defence and gets rid of Rahul.
31-24 Ankit and Akash combine to deny Ajith and reduce the Titans' deficit to eight points.
31-22 Ajith scores his fifth point of the game as he picks up a bonus this time around.
29-22 Rajnish is the first raider today to get the better of Fazel as he slips out of the Iranian's ankle hold.
29-21 Ajith does his job as the secondary raider to perfection as he lands a kick on the right corner and revives Abhishek.
28-20 Surinder makes a rather late dash on Abhishek and it pays off! Surinder claims a superb tackle point.
28-19 HIGH-5 for Fazel! The Iranian brings up his first High-5 of the season with a fine tackle on Rajnish.
26-19 Fazel scores his fourth tackle point of the game with a monstrous ankle hold on Ankit.
25-19 Surinder makes a statement against his former side by taking out Ajinkya.
25-18 Ankit's poor outing continues as he steps into the lobby without scoring a point.
24-17 Fazel gets the second half off to a rollicking start with a massive tackle on Rajnish.
HALF-TIME: U Mumba leads Telugu Titans by six points at the end of the first half.
23-17 That's excellent work from Rajnish in defence as he makes a fine dash and ushers Abhishek off the mat.
23-16 Rinku makes the rare error and Rajnish capitalises on it to pick up another point.
23-15 Abhishek extends his side's lead with a two-point raid. That's his seventh point of the game.
21-15 ALL OUT! Adarsh puts in the best raid of the evening. Rahul grabs on to Adarsh's ankle and gets support from Harendra, but Adarsh tries and tries and tries before getting his hand across the mid-line. Fantastic work from Adarsh.
21-11 That's absolutely superb from Rahul as he makes a swift toe touch on Sandeep.
19-10 An interesting twist here. Fazel has been eliminated because he steps out of bounds and Rinku then enters the lobby too. And so does the raider, Rajnish. Both sides are awarded two points each.
17-8 Ouch! That looks painful. Mohsen is tackled and seems to have taken a knee to his ribs!
16-7 SUPER TACKLE! Mohsen, Rinku and Fazel combine to get rid of Adarsh and extend their side's lead.
14-7 Outstanding stuff from Ankit as he races towards Ajith and shoves the U Mumba raider towards the advertisement hoardings.
14-6 That is a really good tackle from Surinder as he vies with Abhishek before the Titans defence swoops in to offer him support.
14-5 Adarsh, the all-rounder, comes good for Titans as he overpowers two U Mumba defenders!
14-3 Abhishek gets the better of Akash on the right corner yet again as he gets a touch on the latter's leg.
13-3 Rahul chips in with a sharp tackle on Ankit and the U Mumba defence is well and truly on song!
11-3 That is a phenomenal tackle from Fazel! He was nearly undone by Rajnish but he turns around just in time to land a stunning back hold.
10-3 Sandeep finally gets in the thick of things as he executes a perfectly-timed ankle hold on Mohsen.
10-2 ALL OUT! U Mumba captain Fazel earns his first tackle point as he comes in with a thigh hold to take out Sandeep Kandola. Seven minutes played and U Mumba has swiftly taken control of this game.
7-1 Abhishek gets his man in Price and the Titans are staring at an early All Out.
6-1 Things are going from bad to worse for the Titans as Abhishek gets a running hand touch on Surinder and the Titans are down to two men.
5-1 That's a poor effort from Rakesh Gowda. He banks on the bonus point in the do-or-die raid but does not get it and has to jog back to the bench.
4-1 Abhishek strikes again as he gets rid of the right corner. The Titans have been reduced to four men.
3-1 Rahul makes a stunning dash as he darts from the right to the left and wrestles Rajnish to the mat.
2-1 Abhishek gifts the Titans an easy point as he steps into the lobby.
2-0 Back to back points for U Mumba as Rahul Sethpal traps Ankit in a superb ankle hold.
1-0 Abhishek Singh gets on the scoresheet right away as he bags a running hand touch on Akash.
Telugu Titans won the toss and chose the left side of the court, U Mumba will raid first.
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8:40pm: LINE UPS!
U Mumba: Fazel Atrachali, Abhishek Singh, Ajith Kumar, Harendra Kumar, Mohsen Maghsoudlou, Rahul, Rinku
Telugu Titans: Sandeep Kandola, Surinder Singh, Rajnish, Ankit Beniwal, Adarsh, Prince, Akash Choudhary
8:32pm: This game is going right down to the wire! Bengaluru Bulls trails Puneri Paltan by two points with 53 seconds on the clock! Join my colleague Nihit Sachdeva on the live blog here -
8:25pm: Telugu Titans finally snapped its 10-match winless run with a 35-34 victory over Jaipur Pink Panthers earlier in the week. Rajnish and Adarsh T were the heroes for the Titans, who finally came out on the right side of a close contest after losing four games by one point. A place in the playoffs is still a distant dream but the victory over the Pink Panthers could kickstart a strong run for the Titans.
8:20pm: U Mumba’s four-game winless streak has seen the side drop to ninth in the standings. The side has tied its last two games, but has not been able to seal the win. U Mumba’s raiding unit has been sub-par this season - the team ranks 11th in the league with an average of 18.09 raid points per game. Abhishek Singh and V Ajith Kumar have impressed but have not been as consistent as they'd like to be. U Mumba’s defence has also been irregular as it ranks seventh in the league with 9.55 tackle points per game. U Mumba is in desperate need for a win to revive its campaign.
8:15pm: Bengaluru Bulls trails Puneri Paltan by six points in the first game of the evening. You can join my colleague Nihit Sachdeva on the live blog here -
8:10pm: Another helpful reminder of the rules. If you need it!
8:05pm: The 2022 edition of the Sportstar Aces Awards is back and we are celebrating the marvellous year for Indian Sports that 2021 was. From Neeraj Chopra and the other Olympic and Paralympic medallists to the Indian cricket team, we have a bunch of nominees who need your vote to win! Support your favourite athlete/team here .
8:00pm: Hey folks, welcome to our live blog of the second game of the evening between former champion U Mumba and Telugu Titans. Before we get to that, here is our review of the season thus far by my colleague Lavanya Lakshminarayanan -
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