Day 9 of the esteemed Pro Kabaddi League will witness a couple of sensational outings, with U Mumba taking on Puneri Paltan, who are yet to win their first game of the season. The next match will feature two of the most popular franchises, UP Yoddhas and Bengaluru Bulls, who will look to climb up in the points table.
Nothing is going right for the Puneri Paltan at the moment as they have not won any of the matches out of three. However, they managed to play one draw. A lack of experienced players could be the reason for their downfall. U Mumba, on the other hand, is in the fifth position after winning two out of three games.
Popular franchise UP Yoddhas have just won one battle but lost twice so far in the league. The Bulls are ahead of the Yoddhas in the points table with two victories to their name. It is going to be a hard-fought encounter for both teams on Super Sunday.
Let us take a look at the previews and predictions of the matches to be held on Day 9:
Match 22: Puneri Paltan vs U Mumba
Puneri Paltan last played their match against Gujarat Giants and lost by a margin of 10 points. Gujarat, who were desperate to win their first match of the season, finally got it against Paltan.
Even after the inclusion of Fazel Atrachali and Mohammad Nabibakhsh, they couldn’t win the battle. But the good part is that the Iranian legends are back on the side and could boost the lost momentum.
U Mumba, on the other hand, won their previous match against Tamil Thalaivas and would like to win this one as well. Looking at the performance of Puneri Paltan, the Mumbai-based franchise might not have to work hard for the win.
Looking at the head-to-head battles to date, U Mumba has won nine times, while the franchise from Pune could only win seven matches against them to date. Two matches ended in a tie, making it 18 so far in the Pro Kabaddi League.
These early games are very crucial for Puneri Paltan to climb up in the table, or else they could be out of the race soon. Fazel Atrachali and Mohammad Nabibakhsh would be the ones to look at in this clash.
From U Mumba, Guman Singh enjoyed the last outing against the Thalaivas as he scored a sensational Super 10 with 12 points. What makes it even more fantastic is that all these points were touchpoints. U Mumba is the favorites to win the battle if something out of the ordinary had not happened.
Predicted Starting Seven
Puneri Paltan: Aslam Inamdar, Balasaheb Jadhav, Sombir, Mohit Goyat, Mohammad Nabibakhsh, Gaurav Khatri, Fazel Atrachali (C)
U Mumba: Guman Singh, Surinder Singh (C), Harendra Kumar, Ashish, Jai Bhagwan, Rinku, Kiran Magar
Match 23: UP Yoddhas vs Bengaluru Bulls
Fans must not be very pleased with the overall performance of UP Yoddhas to date in this season. With some legendary players in the squad, expectations are always high from the team. The team lost the close encounter against the Season 8 champions, Dabang Delhi, on Wednesday which led to their confidence is down. Apart from Surender Gill, none of the players was impactful that day.
Everyone’s favorite Pardeep Narwal could only score 7 raid points while Nitin Tomar failed to score a single point. Bengaluru Bulls, on the other hand, lost to the Bengal Warriors in their previous clash by a margin of 9 points. Vikash Khandola and Bharat showed some promise, while skipper Mahender Singh failed badly. A lack of collective effort cost the Bulls this epic encounter.
Talking about the head-to-head matches to date, the Bulls have beaten Yoddhas seven times, while the latter has won only four games in the prominent league. Pardeep Narwal will be the one to watch out for, whereas Vikash Khandola will be on everyone’s list of Bengaluru Bulls. From the past performances, one can conclude that the Bengaluru Bulls will be favorites to win the match.
Predicted Starting Seven
UP Yoddha: Pardeep Narwal, Ashu Singh, Shubham Kumar, Surender Gill, Nitin Tomar, Nitesh Kumar (C), Sumit
Bengaluru Bulls: Vikash Khandola, Mayur Kadam, Mahender Singh (C), Bharat, Neeraj Narwal, Saurabh Nandal, Aman