Happy New Year! 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 UP Yoddha.

3-5 That’s the big fish! Rohit Tomar does really well to get a touch on Fazel and the Sultan is off to the bench.

3-4 Sumit gets the better of Abhishek again! The U Mumba raider targets the left corner again and Sumit once again traps him with a superb ankle hold.

2-2 Ajith strikes! He gets rid of Surender, UP Yoddha’s secondary raider, with a running hand touch.

1-1 It’s a do-or-die raid and Abhishek has the option of picking up a bonus point, but he has been tackled. Sumit joins the party with a perfectly-timed ankle hold.

1-0 That is an excellent start for U Mumba. Pardeep heads in for a raid and Rinku catches him blind-sided. He grapples him in a back hold and Pardeep has to go to the bench.

UP Yoddha won the toss and chose court, U Mumba will raid first.

7-30pm: LINE UPS!

U Mumba: Fazel Atrachali, Abhishek Singh, Sunil, Harendra, Mohsen, Ajith Kumar, Rinku

UP Yoddha: Pardeep Narwal, Nitesh Kumar,  Ashu Singh, Shubham, Rohit, Surender, Sumit

7-25pm: The teams are out on the mat and we’re minutes away from the first PKL game of the year! How do you think this game is going to play out?

7-20pm: Story plug! We had an interaction with U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali day before after his side’s win over Jaipur Pink Panthers. The Iranian spoke about his side’s superb raiders in Ajith Kumar and Abhishek Singh, how he is finally finding the space to make more tackles and much more –

7-15pm: Pardeep Narwal has picked up 34 points from four games and as ninth on the list of most raid points this season. The Dubki King has added a new element to his game this season as he’s made more bonus attempts than before. However, he has struggled for support and for a proper second raider who can revive him when he’s off the mat.

7-05pm: Our second game of the day will see third-placed Bengaluru Bulls face 11th-placed Telugu Titans. In the third and final game of the day, league leader Dabang Delhi K.C. will play against 6th-placed Tamil Thalaivas. A triple header to begin 2022!

7-00pm: Head to Head stats – U Mumba and UP Yoddha have met six times in PKL and both have won three games each.

6-55pm: Let’s talk about Mr. Pardeep Narwal, better known as the Dubki King. The 24-year-old was signed by UP Yoddha for a phenomenal 1.65 crore to become the most expensive player in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League.

“Main bolta bohot kam hoon (I don’t speak much),” he says in a chat with Sportstar. He’s one of those players who let their game do the talking.

Having won three titles with Patna Pirates, he is eager to taste similar success with his new side. “We have a very balanced team with plenty of youngsters. The onus will be on me to steer the team as a seasoned player, but I have full faith in the team. We don’t have a trophy yet and I would like to change that this season,” he adds.

UP Yoddha signed Pardeep Narwal for ₹1.65 crore, making him the most expensive player in the Pro Kabaddi League.   –  Pro Kabaddi League

6-50pm: U Mumba easily beat Jaipur Pink Panthers 37-28 in its previous match to get its second win of the season. On the other hand, UP Yoddha played a 32-32 tie with Gujarat Giants courtesy of a Super 10 from Pardeep.

6-45pm: Speaking of Fazel, the Iranian defender is one of the best names in the League. He is the best-paid foreign player in the PKL and is among the best defenders in the modern age. He orchestrated Iran’s win over India at the 2018 Asian Games and led the nation to the gold medal.

Fazel, one of the most entertaining players in the PKL, had a sit-down with us last season and spoke about his love for Bollywood, Indian food and his chance meeting with Amitabh Bachchan –