Having registered their first points in the tournament after winning their opening bout, both the Puneri Paltans and U Mumba will take on each other in what promises to be a high-voltage clash in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 4. The battle will witness probably PKL’s two best captains, Manjeet Chhillar for the Paltans and Anup Kumar for U Mumba plot the fall of their opposition.
The Live Streaming for the game between Puneri Paltan and U Mumba will be available on www.starsports.com from 21:00 hours IST. The match will be telecasted live from DOME @ NSCI SVP Stadium, Mumbai, and will be aired on Star Sports 2 (HD)/Star Sports 2 in English and Star Sports 3 /Star Sports 3 (HD) in Hindi.
Taking on the Telugu Titans for their first kabaddi match of this season, the Puneri Paltans started off in strong fashion in the first few mins, taking a 3-0 lead. Ajay Thakur stood up to his reputation and got his team 2 raid points of his initial raids. However, lack of touch in the form of star raider Deepak Hooda hurt the Paltans as he was successfully caught twice and was sent off to warm the benches early.
As the first half neared a close, Thakur was tackled which ensured that the Titans inflicted the first all-out of the game. Hooda’s struggles continued even after the all-out, as he was sent off twice in consecutive raids as the Paltans entered the second half with a deficit of 2 points under their belt.
In the second half, skipper Manjeet was out early and his team members soon followed suit with Sandeep Narwal coming into his own just when Titans needed it. However, Manjeet stepped onto the plate, led his defence fabulously well and utilised the Titans errors to extreme perfection to inflict an all-out on the Titans, gaining the lead for the Paltans. Following this lead, there was no turning back for the Pune franchise, who were seemingly energised by the lead on their side as they went on to score the first points against their name and get some momentum on their side.
Having started off in a great fashion prior to this season, PKL Season 4 too had a typical U Mumba flavour to it. Facing Jaipur Pink Panthers for their first match of PKL Season 4, U Mumba took home the victory, courtesy an in-form Rakesh Kumar.
After skipper Anup Kumar got the scoreboard ticking for U Mumba with a bonus, Rakesh Kumar took it up into his own hands to ensure that the Mumbai franchise was not the team behind in crunch situations with the wealth of expertise he has under his belt. After U Mumba inflicted an early all-out, Jaipur were not allowed to make a comeback in the first half, with Mumbai taking the lead to 20-12 in the first half, with Jasvir Singh's super raid notwithstanding.
Into the second half, Jaipur enforced two all-outs, but that was not enough to stop U Mumba. Rakesh Kumar’s raids were in the way of Jaipur and victory, as he took matters into his own hands and scored crucial points to script his side’s thrilling victory.
When the Puneri Paltans step onto the mat to take on U Mumba, the Maharashtrian Derby will without any doubt be a nerve-wracking match for fans and the players. With some of the best players pitted against each other, the game promises to go down to the wire.
