PKL 9: Patna Pirates, U Mumba look to extend unbeaten run

Both teams have made a great start to the Pune leg of the competition.

U Mumba are on a roll in Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9. They are currently third on the points table, having won three matches on the trot. The last of those wins came against Telugu Titans (40-37) in a closely fought encounter. Ashish scored 12 raid points in the absence of Guman Singh and is turning out to be a good pick by the U Mumba franchise. The defence as always led by Surinder Singh has put up a good show.

On the other hand, Patna Pirates after a string of losses in the Bengaluru leg are now on a four-match unbeaten run. They have won three and tied one match. The transformation from the first leg has been phenomenal and Sachin has been the star. Patna Pirates beat Gujarat Giants (34-28) in their last encounter.

Team News

U Mumba

Raiders: Guman Singh, Ashish, Heidarali Ekrami, Jai Bhagwan Ankush, Kamlesh, Shivam, Pranay Rane, Sachin, Rupesh

Defenders: Rinku, Surinder Singh, Harendra Kumar, Shivansh Thakur, Prince, Kiran Magar, Rahul, Satywan, Mohit

All-Rounders: Gholamabbas Korouki

Patna Pirates

Raiders: Sachin, Monu, Anand Tomar, Sushil Gulia, Vishwas S, Rohit, Ranjit Naik, Anuj Kumar

Defenders: Neeraj Kumar, Sunil, Thiyagarajan Yuvaraj, Manish, Shivam Chaudhary, Naveen Sharma

All-Rounder: Rohit Gulia, Sajin C, Sager Kumar, Abdul Insamam, Mohammadreza Chiyaneh, Daniel Odhiambo

Head-to-Head

U Mumba and Patna Pirates have faced each other in 16 matches at the Pro Kabaddi League. Patna Pirates have won six of those encounters. Whereas, U Mumba have come out victorious on nine occasions with one match ending in a tie.

Player to watch

Ashish from U Mumba is slowly starting to perform at his peak after a slow start to the season. In the absence of Guman Singh, the youngster put in a Super 10 against Telugu Titans and was impressive in the previous encounter too. With the presence of Jai Bhagwan, both the raiders will eye consistency.

For Patna Pirates, Sachin did not have a good start to PKL season 9. His scoring at a slow pace was also a reason for Patna Pirates' poor form at the start. But since the start of the Pune leg, the star raider has got his mojo back and has scored multiple super 10s. He has also returned with very few empty raids as he had done in the past.

Key to Success

Neeraj Kumar and Mohammed Chiyaneah will form a vital cog in the Patna Pirates' defence and will look to restrict the inexperienced young raiding unit of U Mumba. Sajin Chandrasekhar in the covers is having a poor season after being retained and will want to build up his confidence going forward.  

The defence has been the biggest bonus for U Mumba with Harendra, Surinder Singh and Rinku putting up commendable performances. The trio will try to restrict Sachin and send him to the bench for the majority of the game. If they succeed U Mumba will hold the upper edge in the encounter.

Did you know

Sachin has scored 792 points (raiding+defence) overall in the Pro Kabaddi League and needs only eight points to reach the 800 points mark.

Broadcast - PKL 9

Time - 07:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar