The home side, U Mumba take on the UP Yoddhas in an Inter-Zone Challenge at the Dome NSCI in Mumbai tomorrow at 9 pm IST.
UP Yoddha are on a 5-match winless streak and desperately need a win to stay alive in contention of a playoff spot.
The Yoddhas, who were termed as a raiding powerhouse in the earlier stages of the competition, were let down by their miserable raiding effort in the 10-point loss to the Bengaluru Bulls. The Yoddhas raiders could manage just 14 raid points in the match.
The defense did well, with Nitesh Kumar, the right corner, playing terrifically to clinch 6 tackle points for his side. The Yoddhas have had a roller-coaster of a season, where consistency always seems in sight but their impatience and indecisiveness get the better of them.
U Mumba are also coming off consecutive defeats, the recent one was especially shocking against a much weaker Haryana Steelers, who were inspired by terrific performances from Vikas Kandola and Sunil.
The home leg actually checks the bench strength of a team and some serious issues have come to the fore with the defeats. The lack of consistency among raiders, except Siddharth Desai, and the absence of the form of Dharmaraj Cheralathan, their right corner is slowly turning out be grave concerns that the Mumba's coach and management have to find a solution to before it takes the form of a disaster.
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Key Battles to keep an eye on:
#1 Rishank Devadiga (right raider) vs Fazel Atrachali (left corner)
#2 Siddharth Desai (two-sided raider) vs Sachin Kumar (left corner)
Probable playing 7:
U Mumba: Fazel Atrachali (c), Siddharth Desai, Darshan Kadian, Rohit Baliyan, Surender Singh, Rohit Rana, and Vinod Kumar
UP Yoddha: Rishank Devadiga (c), Prashant Kumar Rai, Shrikant Jadhav, Jeeva Kumar, Narender, Nitesh Kumar, and Sachin Kumar
When and where to watch: 21:00 IST on the Star Sports network and on digital streaming platform Hotstar