PKL 9: U Mumba to face in-form Puneri Paltan in Maharashtrian derby

Fazel Atrachali captained team is currently on the top of the table.

Puneri Paltan will take on U Mumba in the Maharashtrian derby on the triple panga Friday in Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9. Puneri Paltan is coming into this encounter after a close win against Tamil Thalaivas (35-34) and currently holds the top spot in the points table. Akash Shinde and Fazel Athrachali were the stars scoring a super 10 and a high 5.

U Mumba after an excellent start to the Pune leg is on a two-match losing streak. Ashish has taken over the role of primary raider from Guman Singh who has not featured in past few matches due to an injury. Ashish along with raiding also has good defensive skills to tackle players while attempting a bonus.

Team News

Puneri Paltan

Raiders: Aslam Inamdar, Mohit Goyat, Pankaj Mohite, Akash Shinde, Shubham Shelke, Aditya Shinde

All-Rounders: Mohammad Nabibakhsh, Balasaheb Jadhav, Govind Gurjar

Defenders: Sanket Sawant, Fazel Atrachali, Abinesh Nadarajan, Sombir, D Mahindra Prasad, Badal Singh, Alankar Patil, Rakesh Ram, Harsh Lad

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-Rounder: Gholamabbas Korouki

Head to Head

U Mumba and Puneri Paltan have faced each other 19 times in the Pro Kabaddi League out of which, Puneri Paltan have won eight matches whereas U Mumba has come out victorious on nine occasions with two matches ending in a tie.

Player to watch

Ashish in the few matches he has played has been exceptional both in raiding and defence. He has taken over the primary raiders role from Guman Singh and has done a good job. The opposition raiders should be watchful while attempting a bonus against Ashish who has tackled players before while attempting to take bonus points.

Akash Shinde was the only raider from Puneri Paltan to score a super 10 after coming in as a substitute. In the absence of Mohit Goyat and Aslam Inamdar, Akash has played a crucial role and scored super 10s whenever given a chance. He was replaced for Aslam Inamdar due to an injury where Akash scored back-to-back super 10s. The youngster needs to be given more raids and also given a chance in playing 7 regularly.

Key to Success

The raiding of Puneri Paltan will take on the defence of U Mumba who are currently in poor form. Aslam Inamdar along with Akash Shinde should look to attack both the corners who have looked off-colour in the previous two matches.  

U Mumba should look to combine and play to their strengths. Surender Singh the captain needs to put in more effort and keep control of the defence. Harendra Kumar the cover defender along with Surender Singh shall form a deadly combo to control the strong raiding attack of Puneri Paltan.

Did you know

Fazel Athrachali became the first player to score 400 tackle points in the Pro Kabaddi League across all nine seasons. Manjeet Chillar holds the second spot with 391 tackle points. 

Broadcast

Time - 08:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar