PKL-Day-13 – Preview: Haryana Steelers take on U Mumba, Tamil Thalaivas seek momentum

In-form Haryana Steelers will face a well-balanced U Mumba side in a mouth-watering clash on Tuesday in the vivo Pro Kabaddi League. The Steelers, who picked up a valuable win against Gujarat Giants in their previous encounter, will be hoping their raiders Vikash Kandola and Meetu come good once again. U.P Yoddha will lock horns with Tamil Thalaivas in the second encounter of the day. Both matches will be played at The Sheraton Grand, Whitefield, Bengaluru – the fixed venue for Season 8 of vivo PKL.

Raiding unit clicks

The Steelers will be reliant on their raiding unit when they take on U Mumba, who have looked uncharacteristically error-prone in their defence. Mumbai captain Fazel Atrachali hasn’t oozed his usual confidence on the mat which will make his personal duel with Vikash Kandola very interesting. Right corner Rinku and cover defender Harendra Kumar have also had a mixed start to the campaign – something the Steelers will look to exploit.

In Vikash Kandola, Meetu and Rohit Gulia, Haryana Steelers have a potent raiding trio capable of scoring big points. Whenever they have produced Super 10s, Haryana have gone on to impress. They have just two wins in five matches but defenders Jaideep and Surender Nada have also looked strong. What coach Rakesh Kumar will want is more consistency from his team who almost squandered a massive lead against Gujarat Giants in their previous match.

Ajith Kumar and Abhishek Singh will once again be Mumbai’s main raiders. Ajith has looked exceptionally sharp in the recent outings and will be eyeing to capitalise on the eagerness that sometimes takeover the Steelers’ defence.

Thalaivas seek to maintain momentum

Tamil Thalaivas have gained much-needed momentum with a comfortable win against Puneri Paltan and a draw against Dabang Delhi K.C. in their previous two matches. They lack a superstar raider in the team but have compensated that with great all-rounders. In Manjeet, they have a lanky athlete, who is impressive in both attack and defence. Sagar picked 3 bonus points and 3 tackle points against Delhi while captain Surjeet Singh, and Mohit handled the defence.

The Thalaivas hunt in pack, a strategy U.P. Yoddha will quickly need to adopt with Pardeep Narwal not showing his best yet. The Yoddha star has struggled to replicate the form that made Patna Pirates three-time champions. But the likes of Surender Gill and Rohit Tomar have kept the raiding scores ticking. The match will be decided on how well the Yoddha defence, marshalled by Sumit and Nitesh Kumar can handle the Tamil attackers.

Tune In details (04/01/2022)

7:30 PM: Haryana Steelers vs U Mumba

8:30 PM: U.P. Yoddha vs Tamil Thalaiva

All matches LIVE on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar