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 Bengaluru Bulls and UP Yoddha.

HALF-TIME! UP Yoddha leads Bengaluru Bulls by five points at 19-14 at the end of the first 20 minutes.

13-19 The men in blue are all over this game – Deepak Narwal, another substitute, is taken out by the UP Yoddha defence and Bulls are down to one man.

13-18 Mohammad Taghi Paein Mahali replaces Gurdeep and scalps two massive points in his first raid! He gets rid of Aman and Saurabh, two of the Bull’s main defenders. This is the Iranian’s first raid of the season!

13-16 The UP Yoddha defence has come to life and how! Sumit picks up his fourth point of the game with a fine tackle on Bharat.

13-15 SUPER TACKLE x3 for UP YODDHA! Gurdeep is the proverbial super-sub here as he lands perfect double ankle hold on Chandran and gets the much-needed support from Surender too.

13-13 Surender bags the bonus point and the scores are level with less than four minutes to go.

13-12 SUPER TACKLE AGAIN! Surender and Gurdeep pick up yet another Super Tackle as they get the better of Pawan again!

12-10 SUPER TACKLE! Surender Gill, you beauty! He traps Pawan in a brilliant double ankle hold and Shrikant assists him to complete the Super Tackle. The two raiders have taken out the Bulls’ main raider.

Pardeep has been kept off the mat for six minutes and counting and he’s managed only two unsuccessful raids so far.

11-7 Shubham tries to duck under Pawan but instead gets eliminated as the Bulls skipper gets a touch on his neck.

9-6 That’s a swift shift in momentum! Saurabh and Mohit stop tackle Pardeep, while Chandran picks up two points to bring Pawan back on the mat.

We’re 10 minutes into the game and Pardeep is yet to open his account while Pawan has only one!

6-6 It’s neck and neck here as Bharat restores parity with a running hand touch on Ashu.

5-6 After a lengthy review, Shrikant is given the point as he gets a touch on the in-form Aman. Bulls are down to three men now!

5-5 Pawan just came on and he’s been relegated to the bench! Sumit picks up a hat-trick of tackle points with this one.

5-4 Aman has just been too good on the left corner. He waits and waits for the right moment before grabbing on to Surender’s right ankle.

4-4 Bharat comes in for Mayur and does the trick right away as he picks up a bonus.

3-4 Shrikant has bagged his first as he gets the better of the big man in GB More.

3-3 Sumit strikes again! The left-corner lays a stunning double thigh hold on Chandran for his second point of the game.

3-2 Pawan is off the mat and Pardeep back on as Sumit and Nitesh combine to tackle the Bengaluru Bulls captain.

3-1 Aman throws in an exquisite ankle hold to stop Surender.

Pardeep has spent an average of 10 minutes off the mat in each game this season! That’s not an encouraging sign for UP Yoddha.

2-1 First points on the board for UP Yoddha as Surender picks up a bonus.

2-0 Pardeep Narwal has been tackled right away! Mohit Sehrawat traps the Dubki King with a fine tackle.

1-0 Pawan Sehrawat scores off his first point – he gets the easiest of running hand touches on Ashu!

UP Yoddha wins the toss and has chosen court, Bengaluru Bulls will raid first.

—

8-35pm: For those of you who follow Indian football, Kerala Blasters is leading Hyderabad FC 1-0 at half-time. A win for either side will see the team storm to th top of the ISL table! You can follow the game live with my colleague Neeladri here –

ISL 2021-22 KBFC vs HFC LIVE: Vazquez keeps the score 1-0 for Kerala at Half-Time