Pro Kabaddi | Tamil Thalaivas eye first win, all eyes on Pardeep Narwal as UP Yoddha take on Jaipur Pink Panthers

Tamil Thalaivas and U Mumba will go into the match looking to bounce back after upsetting defeats. Thaliavas lost to Bengaluru Bulls in the Southern derby, with their raiders struggling to make any impact against a Bulls defence that hunted in packs. Thalaivas will likely face the same problem again against U Mumba who are known for their aggressive defence. Mumbai’s fortunes will rely on how well Fazel Atrachali can calm his defence against tall raiders like Manjeet.

U Mumba didn’t do much wrong in their loss against Delhi. Naveen Kumar had yet another brilliant outing that penetrated the Mumbai defence after struggling initially. But in Abhishek Singh and former Thalaivas star Ajith Kumar, Mumbai has a decent raiding team to wreak havoc at the opposition end. Captain Surjeet Singh will need to carefully manage his Thalaivas defence to claim their first win of the season.

UP Yoddha paid a whopping 1.65 crores at the Vivo PKL auctions to secure the services of Pro Kabaddi league’s all-time highest scorer Pardeel Narwal’s services. The three-time champion with Patna Pirates has however found it difficult to get going in the first matches for his team though.

Pardeep scored 12 points in UP’s morale-boosting last raid win against Patna Pirates on Saturday. With Surender Gill and Shrikant Jadhav chipping in with valuable raids, and the defensive combination of Sumit and Anshu Singh slowly looking formidable, UP Yoddha will fancy their chances against Jaipur Pink Panthers.

Jaipur is also a side gaining in form. Their captain Deepak Hooda scored a Super 10 in his side’s win against Haryana Steelers. New recruit Arjun Deshwal scored 18 points on the night while Shaul Kumar was impressive in the defence.