PKL 2019 Day 1 highlights: Bengaluru Bulls edge out Patna Pirates 34-32

U Mumba beat Telugu Titans 30-25 in the inaugural match of the seventh edition of the Pro-Kabaddi League

6:48 PM

Big shoes to fill for the raiders of U Mumba

• After the departure of their star raider of PKL 6, Siddharth Desai, the raiding responsibility in PKL 7 will fall to Rohit Baliyan, Dong Geon Lee, Abhishek Singh and Athul MS.
• None of those raiders combined had the raid point tally that Siddharth Desai had last season. 
• Rohit Baliyan is the most experienced raider in the team (52 Matches). With none of the other raiders having played more than 25 PKL matches, much of the responsibility will fall on his shoulders.

 

6:38 PM

Stats Alert:

In current Telugu Titans, all players (except Siddharth) combined doesn’t have even half of Siddharth Desai’s raid points in PKL. All combined have just 69 career raid points, while Desai scored 218 raid points in his debut season in PKL 6.

6:27 PM

U Mumba’s powerful defensive combinations led by strong corner combination of Fazel-Sandeep.

• Last season saw Fazel and Surender Singh combined to form a very strong cover-corner combination. They were the best cover-corner combination of last season.
• They were involved in a total of 58 tackle points as a pair.
• Surender Singh had only 4 more tackle points in PKL 6 (62) than in PKL 5 (58), but crucially he reduced the number of failed tackles as shown from his tackle strike rate improving from 38 (PKL 5) to 43 (PKL 6). 
• U Mumba have added Sandeep Narwal to the team for Pro Kabaddi.  
• Sandeep Narwal is the third-leading tackle point scorer of all times in PKL history with a total of 254 tackle points. They have two of the top 5 tackle point scorers of PKL in their side (with Fazel).

6:20 PM

6:13 PM

Telugu Titans: Rahul Chaudhari out, Siddharth Desai in

• Star raider Rahul Chaudhari was one of two players in PKL history to have played the first six seasons with the same team (Jang Kun Lee the other with Bengal Warriors).
• But after six seasons with Telugu, the raider has been let go by the team and as his replacement they have bought one of the stars of PKL 6, Siddharth Desai, spending a massive 145 lakhs (highest bid for PKL 6 auction) to get him. 
• Siddharth Desai took the league by storm last season which was his debut PKL season. He finished PKL 6 as the 3rd leading raid point scorer with 218 raid points. He also won the Emerging Player of the Year award.
• He was one of only 3 raiders to have a raid point average > 10 in PKL 6 (10.4).
• In his 21 games, he also picked up 12 Super 10s, getting one in more than 50% of his games.

5:54 PM

Fazel Atrachali leading from the front.

• After five seasons under Anup Kumar, Iranian superstar Fazel Atrachali was named captain of U Mumba for PKL 6 and will continue as captain in Pro Kabaddi 2019 too. 
• Fazel made a huge impact in the defensive setup of the team by being the best defender. He scored a total of 83 tackle points which was 3rd best in the league last season.
• Fazel is one of the few players who has won 2 PKL titles with 2 different teams, one with U Mumba (PKL 2) and the other with Patna Pirates (PKL 4).

5:49 PM

U Mumba performance in PKL History

Season	Matches	Wins	Losses	Ties	Win %	Finish
1	16	9	4	3	56.3%	Runners up
2	16	14	2	0	87.5%	Champions
3	16	13	3	0	81.3%	Runners up
4	14	7	6	1	50.0%	5th
5	22	10	12	0	45.5%	4th in Zone A
6	23	15	6	2	65.2%	Eliminator – 1
Overall	107	68	33	6	63.6%	-

 

5:48 PM

Telugu Titans performance in PKL history

Season	Matches	Win	Loss	Tie	Win %	Finish
1	14	6	5	4	42.9%	5th
2	16	9	4	3	56.3%	3rd (Semi-final)
3	14	7	7	0	50.0%	5th
4	16	8	6	2	50.0%	4th (Semi-final)
5	22	7	12	3	31.8%	5th (Zone B)
6	22	8	13	1	36.4%	5th (Zone B)
Overall	104	45	47	13	43.3%	-

 

5:43 PM

Preview

elugu Titans and U Mumba will clash in the opening game of the seventh edition of Pro Kabaddi League at the Gachibowli Stadium here on Saturday.

 

Defending champions Bengaluru Bulls will also be in action on Saturday when they take on three-time champions Patna Pirates.

 

The organisers unveiled the trophy on Friday in the presence of all 12 captains.

 

U Mumba captain Fazel Atrachali said he was banking on youngsters in the side for a good show.

 

"We fought hard last season and we will continue to do the same this year as well. Having Sidharth last season was a big plus for us, but this season also we have youngsters with us who have shown the same dedication and promise as Sidharth. Sidharth and I know each other well and we do have a plan to tackle him which you will see in the game tomorrow," he said.

 

Rohit Kumar, who is captaining Bengaluru Bulls said all the teams are "extremely competitive".

 

"But I believe Gujarat Fortunegiants and Tamil Thalaivas are our strongest competitors this season. This year, we aim to win maximum of the matches and even if we lose, I will hope to lose with the minimum difference.

 

"The 45-day long camp has made us train and practice extremely hard and with that intensity we will prepare for the match against Patna Pirates tomorrow and give our 100% and try to win the first match of the season," he said.