PKL 2024 Highlights: U Mumba holds off Tamil Thalaivas; Pawan Sehrawat injured as UP Yoddhas beat Telugu Titans

Patna Pirates vs Bengal Warriorz – 8pm 

Jaipur Pink Panthers vs Gujarat Giants – 9pm

Final raid of the night and the Thalaivas will manage yet another point, bringing down M. Dhanasekar yet again. Thalaivas will take joy from this game, they wrestled back from a 13-point deficit to lose by just three. Gholamreza, coach of U Mumba, shook his head in disappointment as the final whistle blew. Naturally. A good night particularly for Moein Shafaghi who the management should look at seriously for the coming games. Manjeet, Ajit Chouhan and a wily defence led by Rinku seal the game for Mumba and help the side go up to second on the points table. 

Moein Shafaghi will manage yet another point here, as Parvesh Bhainswal gifts a touch up the mat. 21 seconds to go.

45 seconds to go. Sathish Kannan is brought down by Nitesh again. Mumba reviews for a bonus but there’s no bonus there. As it stands, Thalaivas stand to take a point from this game. 36 seconds left.

Ajit is subbed out. M. Dhanasekar is brought in. He’s tackled by Nitesh though. Very close to the midline. Good work here by Moein Shafaghi as he cleans house. He has inflicted the ALL OUT. Incredible work by the Iranian. Sunil Kumar, Sombir, Manjeet all gone. He might have helped his team manage a point from this game. 

Two minutes to go. Manjeet is running the clock down. Sourabh goes for Sunil but cannot manage a touch. Instead, he has stepped out into the lobby. Silly. This gives Mumba two points as the super tackle was active. Poor this from Sourabh. Thalaivas review this unsuccessfully, as anticipated. A minute and 20 seconds to go. The lead is still 12 points to Mumba. 

Sathish Kannan has been brought in for raiding by Mumba and he’s brought down by the Thalaivas. Gholamreza won’t mind, he’s testing his bench now. Sourabh gets Parvesh Bhainswal whose hold isn’t tight enough. The lead down to 10 now. Thalaivas will want a point from this. 

Five minutes to go. Sachin finally has a point as he slips out of an effort from Zafardanesh. Manjeet is running the clock down. He can now. Under four minutes left. A 12 point lead in the bag for Mumba. Sachin tries and tries but can’t manage a point for the Thalaivas. A timeout is called by U Mumba with just a little over three minutes left in this game. 

Thalaivas drown out Ajit deep in the left cover region. Moein showing good intent here for the Thalaivas as he tries to get a point but he is coiled in by the Mumba defence. Parvesh Bhainswal comes to the party with this one. 

Sourabh continues his shift for the Thalaivas with a point. Dragging Amin Ghorbani to the midline. Second point of the evening for him. Oh hold on, Sourabh stepped out into the lobby without a touch first. So the point won’t go to him. Disappointing. 

We’re back with 10 minutes to go. Zafardanesh begins with an empty raid. DOD raid for the Thalaivas. Rinku strikes early as he and Zafardanesh dash him out. 12 points the lead now for Mumba. Manjeet runs the clock down in his raid. 

Sourabh Fagare is the new raider now for the Thalaivas and has a point off Rinku no less. Rinku hates that he’s given off the point. Ajit Chouhan comes in for a DOD raid and he has a touch on the right corner. On Abhishek it sees. Incredible skill and speed. GIVEN. 

Empty raid for Sachin. Time out called with under 10 minutes to go.

Sachin has his second point sending Sunil out of bounds. Loses his balance and drops off. 11 minutes to go, the deficit, 10 points for the Thalaivas. 

DOD raid now for U Mumba. Manjeet comes in against his former team and the Thalaivas gift him a point with an unnecessary tackle put by Moein Shafaghi. Double hurt, this will hurt THalaivas in raid too. 

Ajit Chouhan intimidates the Thalaivas and gets a kick too on the left cover but Anuj singlehandedly dashes him out. Desperation is incredible and this time, pays off. After 27 minutes of the match, Sachin Tanwar has his first point of the night. Sombir the man being sent off.

Four men on the mat for the Thalaivas. He has the speed to rattle the side but he comes back without risks. Moein Shafaghi takes the raid deep and manages to draw an error from Sunil Kumar. 

Manjeet goes in to deep and almost parallel to the endline. Moein Shafagi brings him down with a thigh hold-block. Rinku then thulps Narender to the ground with a vicious ankle hold. The Thalaivas are looking defeated here. 

Manjeet gets out of a hold and a touch on the way of a defender who couldn’t evade him on time. Amir Hossein Bastami, Nitesh Kumar have to go. 

Sombir gets Sachin. He takes time again and the left corner is happy to embrace the league’s most expensive raider. 

Sachin comes in for Sahil Gulia. Moein is brought down by the Mumba defence. He was really close to the midline. Ooof. Sunil at the edge of his seat there on the bench. We get it, Sunil. 

A near identical tackle but on the other side of the mat – Ajit Chouhan the man brough down close to the midline. Amirhossein Bastami is given a warning for foul play. 

Sachin is back. He has been told not to waste time running. Kick, get the action of the raid early. 

Empty raid for Narender. Sunil Kumar now comes in for an empty raid. Gives his side a breather. The jacket is off for Sachin, is he coming back? Has he had some time to watch from the sidelines? 

DOD raid for Thalaivas. Moein is in again and it looks like he has a touch on Parvesh Bhainswal. Ajit Chouhan makes Amir Hossein Bastami look like a rookie as he gets drawn into a touch that won’t materialise to a tackle. U Mumba making merry from Thalaivas’ errors.

Moein is keeping the Thalaivas in the game as he gets Sunil and Parvesh. A hard half for the Thalaivas. HALF TIME. U Mumba has a 11-point lead courtesy the raiding pair of Ajit and Manjeet.

Moein Shafaghi puts in an empty raid and he is caught unaware by Zafardanesh as he scurries to safety. That speed draws an error. Sahil Gulia steps out. Too good from U Mumba. 

Sachin Tanwar has been substituted it seems. He doesn’t return. He is in his training suit. Manjeet has Abhishek Manokaran. Rinku won’t get every single tackle right and Moein Shafaghi benefits as he drags him to the midline to give the Thalaivas a point. 

Massive 11 point deficit now. Make it 12. Manjeet has sent Himanshu past the midline. Just like that, Manjeet has gone up to six points. 

DOD raid for the Thalaivas. Narender comes in and is brought down by Zafardanesh. The Iranian is finding a way to contribute and looks so comfortable in defence. Ajit Chouhan then sends out Himanshu. Thalaivas down to the last man standing. Amirhossein Bastami the player. Bonus given and the left chain comes in to bring the Iranian. Mumba inficts the ALL OUT. 

Dharmaraj Cheralathan looks all kinds of lost now. 

Empty raid for Narender. Manjeet chips away. Two more points for him. Escapes the hold of two defenders – Anuj Gawade, Sahil Gulia gone to the bench. 

Moein Shafaghi is the new raider for Thalaivas. He comes in. Falls to Rinku and heads back. Manjeet takes out Nitesh Kumar. He also has a bonus. Good passage this for Mumba. 

Ajit Chouhan is so quick, it needs the whole Thalaivas unit to take him down. Thalaivas will be happy to see him go to the bench. 

Empty raids for Narender and Zafardanesh. A timeout has been called with a little under 10 minutes left in this first half. 

Manjeet, former Thalaivas raider, comes in now. Amirhossein Bastami renews their friendship as he brings him down in the left corner in a chain with Sachin. Good effort this. 

Sachin comes on for a DOD raid. He can’t return empty-handed. The clock is ticking down. U Mumba pressures Sachin into the right corner, Rinku does the rest with a hold on both legs. Sachin took it too deep. 

Ajit Chouhan continues to impress as he goes for a toe touch on Sahil. That doesn’t work so he puts in a handtouch in barely a second. Too good. Narender comes in. Gets the bonus but is brought down by Rinku and dragged back. 

Zafardanesh meanwhile is brought down by Nitesh Kumar who anticipates his movements on the mat. 

This is a good phase of the season for an underfiring Zafardanesh. There is a performing raider so he needs to find a way to not take pressure on and find his rhythm. 

Empty raids for Zafardanesh, Sachin and Ajit. 

DOD raid now for the Thalaivas and in comes Narender. High defence from the left for Mumba. Parvesh goes for Narender but it’s simple for Narender as he’s quite close to the midline too. He tries to hold Narender’s hand and turn it, but Narender is too quick. 

Ajit Chouhan comes in on a DOD raid now. Slinks away to safety with a bonus. 19-year-old setting the mat on fire is Ajit. 

Narender meanwhile gets a touch on Sombir to get a point for the men in yellow. Sluggish from the Mumba defender. 

Zafardanesh comes in now to raid. Gets started with a bonus. Narender comes in to raid now. Sombir, quite ahead of the mat, tries to tackle Narender who is happy to turn around and get past the midline to revive Sachin. Ajit Chouhan comes in next and he is so quick. He begins with a SUPER RAID. A bonus plus two touches. He slips out out of an ankle hold and an attempted side-ish backhold. 

U Mumba team won the toss and selected Choice of court: Right

Sachin gets us going for the Thalaivas and he’s stranded in the right corner. But the referee asks players to wait. Zafardanesh putting in the anklehold without much issue, but it looked like Rinku stepped into the lobby. He does so after the touch though so Mumba safe. 

Tamil Thalaivas: Narender Kandola, Anuj Gawade, Sachin, Abhishek Manokaran, Nitesh Kumar, Amir Hossein Bastami, Sahil Gulia 

U Mumba: Amirmohammad Zafardanesh, Manjeet, Parvesh Bhainswal, Ajit Chouhan, Sunil kumar, Rinku, Sombit

Tamil Thalaivas vs U Mumba form guide

Tamil Thalaivas head into this fixture on the back of a defeat against Dabang Delhi K. C. on November 8. They lost the match 26-39 and it was their fourth loss in Pro Kabaddi League Season 11.

U Mumba also lost their last match against Haryana Steelers by a 39-48 scoreline on November 11.

Tamil Thalaivas vs U Mumba head-to-head record

In PKL history, Tamil Thalaivas and U Mumba have played each other 11 times.

U Mumba lead the head-to-head record, winning 7 times while Tamil Thalaivas have returned with a victory on 3 occasions. One match between these teams ended in a tie.

The previous contest between Tamil Thalaivas and U Mumba ended in favour of the former. They won 50-34 in Season 10.

With 3 wins, 4 losses and a tie, Tamil Thalaivas are ninth on the PKL 11 points table with 21 points.

On the other hand, U Mumba are third after winning 5 matches, losing 3 and playing out a tie. They have a total of 29 points.

Bharat gets a touch on Ajit Pawar yet again. Vijay Malik replies with a touch on Gangaram. 15 seconds left in this game. Ashish Narwal then brings down Bharat. Good work here from the Titans. Six points the final deficit. 

UP Yoddhas break their losing streak with their first win in five outings. Titans salvage a point from this game.

Bonus for Bharat. Vijay Malik then hacks two Yoddhas players. From the centre. Gangaram, Sumit have to go to the bench. Titans now need to ensure that gap is within the 7-point margin. Bharat also has a super 10. One minute to go. 

Bharat gets a touch on Ajit Pawar. Vijay Malik chips away with his bonus points. He is waging a lone battle here. Two minutes to go. 

Bonus for Vijay Malik and he brings up his super 10. A timeout is called by the UP Yoddhas.

Vijay Malik has an impossible task at his hands now. He gets a touch on Hitesh. Three and a half minutes to go. The gap, eight points. 

Bonus for Bharat now. Make that nine- the gap. 

Six and a half minutes to go. Bhavani Rajput puts in a safe empty raid. Vijay Malik needs points and he has enough men to pick them off. He goes into the right corner. He’s asking for points off Sahul. But in vain. Bhavani Rajput comes in again, three men in the Titans half. Empty raid again. Next one will be a DOD raid for the Yoddhas. Five minutes to go. 

Vijay Malik now goes to raid. Empty raid again. This is a puzzling strategy. 

DOD raid now for Yoddhas. Bhavani Rajput has to score. He goes for the right corner with the left defender coming in to dash him out, but he has a hand on the lobby and gets the other past the midline. TWO POINTS for Bhavani Rajput which means Titans are down to one man. The Titans are now reviewing. Vijay Malik will be among the men going out. This is crucial for the Titans. Bhavani Rajput got a hefty touch on Malik. Titans are claiming Bhavani Rajput is out. REVIEW UNSUCCESSFUL. Infact, it backfires. ALL OUT. All three defenders are seen to be out. BIG MOMENT OF THE GAME THIS. Bhavani Rajput has cleaned house! 

DOD raid for Yoddhas. Keshav Kumar goes right to the left corner and almost draws Ankit to come and offer to the touch. This is poor from the Titans. Too easy this for Keshav. 

Vijay Malik gets a bonus point. Lot of pressure on him now. 

DOD raid for the Titans. Manjeet is brought down, Sumit doing the work with an anklehold in the left corner. Calm and lethal. The lead is slowly increasing. Eight minutes to go in this game. 

DOD raid for Yoddhas. Bhavani Rajput gets a bonus plus a touch, an error from the defence. Why are defensive units continuing to offer points by giving room for touches? 

Manjeet puts in an empty raid for the Titans. As does Bhavani Rajput for the Yoddhas. 

10 minutes to go in this encounter. A few empty raids pass and a timeout is called by the Telugu Titans. 

Empty raids by Vijay Malik and Bhavani Rajput. Ashish Narwal is dashed out by the Yoddhas. He goes deep into the left corner to get a touch but he doesn’t realise there’s two coming to dash him out. But, it seems like Hitesh went out of bounds. So a point is given to the Titans too. 

Manjeet goes in for the Titans. There’s a defender coming behind him, but he mows the man out of the way and goes to safety. The defence backs them up as Bharat is dashed out of the mat. PARITY RESTORED. 

Empty raid for Vijay Malik. Bharat comes in, empty raid for him too. DOD raid for the Titans and Vijay Malik goes in. He gets a touch, he had to work for it. Gangaram is the man to concede a touch with Vijay lunging low for his point. 

The Titans defence then brings down Keshav Kumar. Sagar goes right into him and sorts him out. A green card warning is given to Ankit. Warning for foul play. 

Krishan Dhull’s night is miserable. Bharat gets a point off him. Manjeet is brought down, with a circular trap set for him from both sides of the mat. Not good news for the Titans. Pawan is in his training kit. His night is over, it looks like. 

Empty raid for Vijay Malik. Keshav Kumar gets a simple touch on Ashish Narwal. Goes deep into the left cover and taps him. 100% strike rate for Keshav. Pawan is helplessly watching from the bench.. 

Ashish Narwal comes in to raid to begin the second half. Can Titans seal this game in Pawan’s absence? Empty raid. Keshav Kumar gets a touch on Sumit. A nice suave kick on the left corner. What a tackle. Ashish Narwal goes into the left corner, Sumit goes for the backhold, his hand slips, but he gets the ankle and brings him back. Pure skill. 

Bhavani Rajput goes in, gets a touch on Krishan Dhull who he struggles with and gets out of. Ajit Pawar almost runs into him but cartwheels away from him. Good sense. Omkar Patil is now subbed in as the last man standing. He is brought down, Sumit the man orchestrating the tackle once more. The tables have been turned. Bonus for Titans, ALL OUT by the Yoddhas. 

Bharat catches Ankit, too easy as he’s nicely in the way of Bharat’s running arc. Pawan has his head in his heads. Vijay Malik is brought down, Sahul Kumar getting into the groove now. Double ankle hold. Titans down to three men for the first time now. Bhavani Rajput goes in to try and get Krishan Dhull to make mistakes but comes back without a risk. Bharat comes in and uses his speed to get touches and come to safety, but he falls and the Titans defenders – three of them – cocoon him. Good support and good sense to not allow Bharat to wriggle out. 

WHAT A DRAMATIC 20 MINUTES OF KABADDI. HALF TIME NOW.

Bhavani Rajput gets a touch on left corner Ankit. Ashish Narwal gets a bonus from under the nose of the left corner. OH BUT BHAVANI RAJPUT is a brilliant raider and he shows us proof of concept with two touches – Ashish Narwal, Sagar have to go. Effortless. 

Vijay Malik pegs one back and gets a touch on Bhavani Rajput. A big kick from the man. Smart to target the in-form raider. 

Ashish gets a point, courtesy a touch off Sumit. 

From a 3-point deficit to a 4-point lead, Vijay Malik is leading this injury-affected Titans unit with elan. 

He continues to force errors. He has sent Sahul off the match. Aggression from Vijay Malik here. The Telugu owners are watching with serious expressions on their faces. 

Bharat gets a bonus. Vijay Malik goes for Bharat but then gets a touch on Gangaram, jumps over him using the defender as a board and gets to safety. Pawan is impressed watching from the sidelines. Ajit Pawar then brings then Bharat and the ALL OUT IS INFLICTED. WHAT A TURNAROUND. 

Vijay Malik, who was the command centre, now has to take matters in his own hands. He begins with an empty raid. Bharat puts in an empty raid. Vijay Malik then comes in and is brought down near the midline. He first jumps over a standing chain. He then tumbles and then brings his legs past the midline. Pure flexibility this. FOUR POINT RAID. HUGE RAID. What a moment in this game. And now Titans have a one-point lead.

Ashish goes in for a Do-or-die raid for the Titans. Sumit in the left corner gets a hold of his leg as Ashish tries the kick and brings him down. Bhavani Rajput now comes for a DOD raid for the Yoddhas and he gets Krishan Dhull who steps past the end line. Massive step out. Poor from the Titans defender. 

Bonus for Bharat. This visual of Pawan limping away is going to stay in the minds of the Titans. Ashish Narwal puts in an empty raid. Pawan has an ice pack to the inner side of the top part of the knee at the moment. Is this a ligament issue again?

Most of the attention has been on activity off the mat. A strategic timeout has been taken.

Three men on the mat for Yoddhas. Pawan likes these situations and almost gets a few touches and comes to safety but Bhavani Rajput goes for Pawan legs and he is brought down. But, it looks like Pawan has injured his leg. He is limping off and looks to be in a lot of pain. It looks like it’s the left knee. This is not good for the Titans at all. 

Good use of the lobby by Pawan. He gets a big touch on Sahul and uses the lobby to come back to safety. Vijay Malik is taking charge of instructions on the mat. Pawan has time to focus just on his job – points. Meanwhile, Bhavani Rajput has a bonus for the Yoddhas. 

Yoddhas get a point. An error from the Titans. Sagar ends up gifting Bhavani Rajput a point. Meanwhile Pawan keeps chipping away. Two points for the man now as he gets touches on Ashu Singh, Hitesh, using his speed to poke into that swollen defense chain on the right. 

Bharat begins with a bonus. Pawan Sehrawat gets Telugu Titans going. UP Yoddhas put in an advanced tackle as Sumit goes for Pawan’s legs. Pawan jumps over him, that iconic trademark jump. Point to the India captain. Bonuses for Bharat and Vijay Malik follow. Bharat is then brought down by Ajit Pawar. Surrounded him, blocked him and pushes Bharat, a tall and fairly strong raider, down. He is warned for jersey pulling too. 

UP Yoddhas: Keshav Kumar, Bhavani Rajput, Ashu Singh, Gangaram, Hitesh, Sumit (C), Bharat Hooda

Telugu Titans: Ashish Narwal, Pawan Sehrawat (C), Sagar, Ajit Pawar, Krishan Hooda, Ankit, Vijay Malik

For Telugu Titans, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat will be the main raider. He has amassed 88 raid points in 8 matches.

Sagar Sethpal Rawal leads the defence for Telugu Titans and has scored 15 tackle points in 8 matches. Meanwhile, Vijay Malik is the best all-rounder in the team with 45 points in 8 matches.

Surender Gill has been the prime raider for UP Yoddhas this season after racking up 30 raid points in 7 matches.

Meanwhile, the UP Yoddhas’ defensive duties will be shouldered mainly by Sumit Sangwan, who has scored 29 tackle points in 8 matches in PKL 11.

All-rounder Bharat Hooda is also a player to watch out for after amassing 69 points so far.

After the narrow loss to U Mumba, Assistant Coach Upendra Singh acknowledged that small lapses in concentration in the latter stages of the match ultimately led to the loss. “While we had a strong start, those last one or two minutes proved crucial. In such tight situations, even a single point can make the difference between victory and defeat.”

Reflecting on the defensive strategy, Coach Upendra Singh highlighted the tactical adjustments made during the game. “We made some changes to our defensive lineup, and while some of those worked in our favor, consistency is key. We need to execute our plans more consistently over the entire 40 minutes.”

Looking ahead to the upcoming match against Telugu Titans, the Assistant Coach expressed confidence in his team’s ability to bounce back. “We’ll take the learnings from this match forward. The team is already focused on our next challenge against Telugu Titans. We believe in our preparation process and expect to showcase a strong performance in the upcoming match.”

In PKL history, UP Yoddhas and Telugu Titans have played each other 14 times.

With 9 wins against Telugu Titans, UP Yoddhas are ahead in the head-to-head record. Telugu Titans have won 3 times while 2 matches ended in ties.

The last UP Yoddhas vs Telugu Titans match saw the latter come out on top with a 49-32 victory in Season 10.

After 8 matches, UP Yoddhas are 10th on the PKL Season 11 points table. They have won 3 times and lost 5 matches, amassing 20 points so far.

Telugu Titans, meanwhile, have 26 points and are sixth on the points table. They have won 5 and lost 3 times.

UP Yoddhas head into this match on the back of a defeat against U Mumba on November 10. They lost the match 33-35 and it was their fifth loss in Pro Kabaddi League Season 11.

Telugu Titans, on the other hand, won their last match after beating Puneri Paltan 34-33 on November 9.

Hello and welcome to Sportstar’s live coverage of the Pro Kabaddi League, which will take place at the Noida Indoor Stadium in Noida on November 14, 2024.

UP Yoddhas take on Telugu Titans in the first match of the evening while Tamil Thalaivas will go up against U Mumba in the second game. 

Stay tuned for previews, live coverage and more.