Welcome to Sportstar’s coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League. This is Nigamanth and I will be taking you through today’s PKL 8 match between U Mumba and Bengal Warriors.

 

FULL TIME! U Mumba 37-27 Bengal Warriors

27-37 These are just consolation points. U Mumba has won it and is into the top six comfortably

26-36 SUPER TACKLE! Abhishek goes out of bounds and that is two points for Warriors

24-35 WOW! Looked like Maninder had crossed the line but the officials think the opposite.  It is Fazel yet again.

24-34 Maoj tries to jump over the defenders but is brought down by none other than Sultan. What a night he’s having. The difference has yet again touched double figures. Less than two minutes remain

23-33 Nabibakhsh goes in for the raid and Fazel is there to stop him. This is excellent stuff from the captain

24-32 DO OR DIE! Abhishek had to go in deep but it ends up unsuccessful as Ran Singh comes in with a superb ankle hold.

23-32 Nabibakhsh is yet again in for a raid and he claims Harendra. This means maninder is back into the mat. Massive

TIME OUT! U Mumba’s plan is to waste as much time as possible even if they don’t get points. Considering the lead, that is not a bad strategy as this could be a comfortable win for the men in orange.

22-32 Rahul yet again gives away a point to his opponent. Nabibakhsh slips away from his ankle hold

21-32 Ajith Kumar comes in to raid. He has had a great night, he has 7 points towards his name. Make it Eight, he gets a touch point. What a payer!

21-31 Nabibakhsh does the job but that was a valiant effort from Rahul Sethpal but the raider comes out victorious

20-31 U Mumba’s Abhishek gets a touch point. Manoj is the victim. But Warriors has reviewed it and it is a unsuccessful one. Nothing is going in favour of Bengal Warriors

20-30 The mediocre form continues for Maninder as he is brought down by Fazel. A proper body block. Now that is a 10 point difference.

20-29 That is easy for Ajith. Amit concedes under pressure and he is off the mat

20-28 Bonus point for Bengal Warriors as Maninder gets back safe after reaching the bonus line

19-28 DO OR DIE! One against seven. Abhishek comes in to raid and has got a point

19-27 The ever dependable Maninder gets a touch point courtesy Rahul Sethpal. U Mumba has reviewed it but is unsuccessful. Fazel won’t regret this decision as it was a very close call

18-27 Manoj gets a point, thanks to Harendra’s weak push. U Mumba will not care as they have enough lead but will be cautious

17-27 HIGH 5! Fazel gets a High-5 yet again as he brings down Nabibakhsh. Clutch player!

17-26 It takes the entire U Mumba defense to bring down Maninder. Shows how much of a player he is

17-24 ALL OUT! Fazel’s men have triggered another all out and the deficit is slowly crawling away from the Warriors

17-21 That is a point for U Mumba as they get another defense spot on.

17-20 ABhishek is the raider for U Mumba and he gets a point

17-19 Nabibakhsh comes in for a raid and the U Mumba defense absolutely pounces on him. All the seven players are on top of the raider

17-18 Manoj is brought down by Fazel with a strong ankle hold and Rinku comes in to help. Neat work from the Mumba defense. U Mumba have reviewed it to check for a bonus and that is a successful one too

17-17 Amit Narwal makes a rare error, tries a weak ankle hold on Anhishek but he’s too fast for the defender

HALF TIME! The two teams have had a similar outing tonight as they are separated by just a point. The match could go either way but Maninder will be a happy man as he is getting the support he deserves from the men in blue. It has been a silent night for Maninder so far as he has just four points against his name and will be looking to infiltrate the U Mumba defense even more in the coming half.U Mumba on the other hand has let Warriors take a slender lead and will be eager to pounce back. Don’t go anywhere as we are about to witness a cracking second half!

17-16   Fazel has awarded a point yet again to Maninder’s men. He could have started the second half but that is not happening as Maninder comes in with a swift running hand touch on the Iranian

17-15 Maninder gets two huge points. He is finally satrting to show who he really is

15-15 Ajith Kumar is on fire today. Nothing fancy and just makes it look easy

14-15 Bonus point for the Warriors. U Mumba has scored 5 bonus points and the Warriors has picked just one

14-14 ALL OUT! Maninder finally gets some relief and man that is an important raid. Four massive points for the Warriors. The scores are level

SUB: Pankaj is in for Ajith

13-10 Now that is uncharacteristic from Fazel, gets a green card for pulling Nabibakhsh’s jersey and he has also awarded a point

13-9 Ajith Kumar almost plucked two points but ends up with a bonus.

12-9 Smart raiding from the U Mumba raiders. Getting atleast a bonus point in all their raids. Beautiful stuff from the Mumba raiders

11-9 Rinku goes in for the raid and picks up a bonus and a touch point

9-9 Nabibakhsh picks out Shivam with a hand touch. Good tactic

9-8 Now Abhishek comes in but is buldozed by the Warriors defense

9-7 SUPER TACKLE! That is four out of four times that this defense have succesfully tackled Maninder

7-7 Abhishek is the raider and he picks up a safe bonus point

6-7 SUPER RAID! That is a costly raid for U Mumba. What a raid for the Warriors on the other hand. Three points and that is a super raid  from Manoj Gowda. Picks out Fazel

6-4 Abishek come in targeting Vishal Mane and he gets him. Spot on from the raider

5-4 DO OR DIE! Maninder is the raider and he fails to pick up a  point as Fazel comes in with an important ankle hold. What a defense from the Iranian

4-3 Shivam comes in to the raid. The Warriors seem to have changed their formation and that has paid off.

4-2 Abhishek is the raider for the U Mumba. Goes in targeting Mighani and has got a point

4-1 Nabibakhsh is brought down by an amazing body hold from Rinku

3-1 Mohammed Nabibakhsh is the raider and he goes back empty handed

3-1 Rahul Sethpal brings down Maninder with an ankle hold. the raider could have easily gone for a bonus

2-1 Abishek Singh goes in deep but is stopped in his tracks as he became predictable and the defence capitalises

2-0 Vishal Mane picks up a swift touch point on Abishek

1-0 The Mighty Maninder goes in to start the proceedings but fails. Rinku with a clutch ankle hold and he sends the raider to the bench

U Mumba wins the toss and  Bengal Warriors will raid first.

LINE UPS!

U Mumba: Abhishek Singh, Fazel Atrachali, Shivam, Harendra Kumar, Ajinkya Kapre, Rinku, Ajith Kumar

Bengal Warriors: Maninder Singh, Vishal Mane, Amit Nirwal, Manoj Gowda, Mohammed Nabibakhsh, Abozar Mighani, Ran Singh

8-25pm: Head-to-head stats

Played: 15

U Mumba: 10

Bengal Warriors: 4

Tie: 1

8-20pm: U Mumba has lost three of its last four matches and currently occupy the eighth spot on the points table. It succumbed to a 47-36 loss at the hands of the Patna Pirates in their previous outing, which saw their score difference drop to -7. Despite its poor recent form, U Mumba is still in an excellent position to finish in the top six. If it can score a few wins in their remaining five matches, itll find itself in the playoffs.

8-15pm: A run of five games without a win has seen the Bengal Warriors fall to 10th on the points table and the brink of elimination from the race for a playoff spot. Barring Maninder Singh, who is the league’s second-highest points scorer with 233, and Ran Singh, the rest of the roster has been subpar. Mohammad Nabibakhsh is the team’s second-highest points scorer with 86. The Warriors’ defensive unit is averaging 7.89 tackle points per game, the lowest in the league. Bengal not only has to win its remaining three matches, but it has to win them by a significant margin, as its -46 score difference could become a factor.

Dabang Delhi KC is currently up against Tamil thalaivas – Catch the live commentary here!

8-10pm:  If you’ve just hopped on the PKL train, fret not, we have you covered. 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’ –

 

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! Click here to VOTE!

8:00pm: Hello folks and welcome to our PKL coverage for the day! The second game of the evening will see eighth-placed U Mumba take on 10th-placed Bengal Warriors. Before we get to that, here’s a recap of what went down in the PKL over the last fortnight –

PKL notebook: Swift rescheduling saves the League