The ninth edition of Pro Kabaddi League is going to commence this Super Friday. The grandest stage of Kabaddi will be back with an action-packed season where the elite raiders and defenders will be returning to showcase their competence in front of the PKL universe.
The Matchday 1 action will be hosted by Bengaluru’s Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium on the 7th of October 2022 from 7:30 PM onwards. Six franchises will be kick-starting their Season 9 campaign on the same day, setting an ultimate aim to take an early advantage in the playoffs race.
The defending champions Dabang Delhi will be summoned by the new-age U Mumba side featuring a lot of fresh faces. The opening day menu also features the season’s first Southern Derby between two old foes, Bengaluru Bulls and Telugu Titans.
Match 1: Dabang Delhi vs U Mumba
The Naveen Express has arrived at the PKL 9 platform
The Dabang Fauj of Krishan Kumar Hooda graced the champions podium of the previous season after outclassing all other competitors throughout their campaign. The Capital-based franchise is now aiming to become only the second team after Patna Pirates to successfully defend their Pro Kabaddi title. On the other hand, a new-looked U Mumba side had a revamp before entering this edition and will be striving for turning their fortunes up.
Despite the dreaded form of the MumBoys, the Orange and Blacks still have the advantage of a better head-to-head record against the defending champions. Out of 18 meetings between these two, Mumba is leading the count with 12 wins while the Delhi Blues have emerged victorious only on five occasions. Both of the league stage encounters of the Season 8 were won by the Dabangs who are on an undefeated streak of four games against the second-edition winners.
The superstar raider Naveen Kumar Goyat has been rewarded with the lead them in the forthcoming season as the first-choice captain. Naveen has claimed the Most Valuable Player of the Season honours of the past two seasons and will be turning up for the PKL challenge after recently winning a bronze medal at 36th National Games. Mumba’s new strike raider Guman Singh Rajput is also gearing up to live up to his high auction price of 1.22 crore.
The defending champions will be stepping onto the battlefield against traditional rivals as favourites to emerge victorious when the final whistle will be blown. It is going to be a tough test for the young Mumba unit against experienced Dabang knights like Vijay Malik, Ravi Kumar, Amit Hooda and the vice-captain Sandeep Dhull.
Predicted Starting Seven
Dabang Delhi: Naveen Goyat (C), Vijay Malik, Ashu Malik; Vishal Lather, Ravi Kumar; Sandeep Dhull, Amit Hooda
U Mumba: Guman Singh, Ashish Narwal, Shivam Thakur; Harendra Kumar, Surinder Singh (C); Kiran Magar, Rinku Sharma
Match 2: Bengaluru Bulls vs Telugu Titans
A new era for Bengaluru Bulls under the guidance of the familiar face Randhir Singh Sehrawat is set to begin. The Karnataka-based outfit must be looking forward to extending its streak of three editions for yet another season. The Titans from the land of Hyderabad finished at bottom of the Season 8 standings after being able to prevail as the winning side only once out of 22 league fixtures.
The head-to-head record of this strife rivalry between two neighbourhood franchises is heavily dominated by the Red outfit. The Bulls are currently leading this Southern Derby on a head-to-head scoreline of 12-3 from 19 PKL encounters. The first battle of Season 8 ended in a 34-34 settlement at the final whistle which marked the fourth tie of this bilateral contest.
The Titans are looking stronger than ever on paper after having a great outing from the auction round when they bought the likes of Abhishek Singh, Parvesh, Ravinder Pahal and Surjeet at affordable prices. The rocky defender Mahender has been promoted from vice-captain to first-choice skipper by the Bengaluru management. Meanwhile, the giant signing Vikash Kandola will be seen stepping into the shoes of the former Bull Pawan Kumar Sehrawat.
It is going to be a neck-to-neck competition between these two familiar foes however, the Yellow and Blacks are having slightly brighter chances to prevail due to the heavy star-power on their side.
Predicted Starting Seven
Bengaluru Bulls: Vikash Kandola, Neeraj Narwal, Bharat Hooda; Mahender Singh (C), Mayur Kadam; Aman Antil, Saurabh Nandal
Telugu Titans: Siddharth Desai, Abhishek Singh, Monu Goyat; Parvesh Bhainswal, Surjeet; Vishal Bharadwaj, Ravinder Pahal (C)
Match 3: Jaipur Pink Panthers vs UP Yoddha
The vintage Showman Rahul Chaudhari is back!
The inaugural champions from Pink city missed out on the playoffs qualification after losing the determination in the final stages. After featuring in the grand finale of the fourth edition, Jaipur is yet to make another appearance in the knockout stages. However, their opponents of the opening fixture have a 100% record of advancing to the final six after achieving it four out of four times.
The Pink Panthers handed over a nail-biting defeat to UP in a low-scoring fixture by 32-29 to level the head-to-head count on 3-3. However, the Yoddhas gave it back to the Rajasthan-based franchise with a thumping 41-34 victory to regain the tiny lead. Jaipur’s raiding sensation Arjun Deshwal starred in those encounters by registering Super 10s (11 & 14) on both occasions.
The poster boy Rahul Chaudhari has recently won the Gold medal honour for his home state UP through his raiding masterclass at 36th National Games. Jaipur’s raiding attack looks invulnerable in the presence of experienced Rahul along with the two young strikers Arjun Deshwal and Ajith Kumar.
It will be a great contest between the Jaipur attack and the Great Wall of UP which seems even stronger than the previous season. The Jaipur defensive department has been revamped from the previous campaign and the way they will operate against the Yoddha raiders will make the real difference in this bout.
Predicted Starting Seven
Jaipur Pink Panthers: Arjun Deshwal, Ajith Kumar, Rahul Chaudhari; Reza Mirbagheri, Sunil Malik (C); Ankush Rathee, Sahul Kumar
UP Yoddha: Pardeep Narwal, Surender Gill, Nitin Tomar; Shubham Baliyan, Ashu Singh; Sumit Sangwan, Nitesh Kumar (C)