PKL 2019, Match 11 preview: Can Pune coach Anup guide his team to victory?

U Mumba are ahead in the Maharashtra Derby against Puneri Paltan after winning 8 out of 14 matches

On Day 7 of VIVO Pro Kabaddi League, PKL 2019, U Mumba will take on Puneri Paltan in their first home leg match at NSCI SVP Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday. Puner Paltan coach Anup Kumar started his Pro Kabaddi career with U Mumba (PKL 1 to PKL 5) before ending his PKL career as a player at Jaipur Pink Panthers in PKL 6. Anup’s Puneri Paltan failed against Haryana Steelers and Anup will need to come up with a different strategy against his former team, whom he led to the finals thrice (PKL 1 to PKL 3). On the other hand, U Mumba lost their previous encounter against Jaipur Pink Panthers and look to make a strong comeback today.

Check Pro Kabaddi schedule and points table here
 
Player battle: Clash of two experienced defensive powerhouses
 
Fazel-Sandeep Narwal vs Surjeet Singh-Girish Ernak
 
Pune vs Mumbai match will see four of the top 10 defenders of PKL with both the teams having two each. U Mumba have two of the top 5 defenders in PKL history in Fazel Atrachali (5th) and Sandeep Narwal (3rd). In fact, Fazel is the top foreign defender in Pro Kabaddi with 241 tackle points and was the 3rd leading tackle point scorer with 83 tackle points in PKL 6. Sandeep Narwal is coming off a disappointing PKL 6 where he scored just 41 tackle points. He is still the overall leader in Super Tackles in PKL with 23.
 

U Mumba Corners – PKL
Defender	Tackle Points	Avg. Tackle Pts.	Tackle SR	Super Tackle	High 5s
Fazel Atrachali	241	3.0	64	15	17
Sandeep Narwal	258	2.5	54	23	15

 

On the opposite side, Puneri Paltan have two of the top 10 defenders in their side. Surjeet Singh with 215 tackle points is 9th overall while Girish Ernak with 229 tackle points is 6th overall. Girish was the top scoring defender for Pune last season with 56 tackle points (tackle strike rate 50) while Surjeet Singh was the top scoring defender for Bengal Warriors with 54 tackle points. Both Girish and Surjeet were the only defenders from their respective teams to score 50-plus tackle points in PKL 6.

Puneri Paltan Lead Defenders – PKL
Defender	Tackle Points	Avg Tackle Pts	Tackle SR	Super Tackle	High 5s
Surjeet Singh	228	2.6	47	11	15
Girish Ernak	215	2.9	51	11	20

 

 U Mumba vs Puneri Paltan head to head
 
U Mumba are ahead in the Maharashtra Derby against Puneri Paltan winning in 8 out of the 14 matches. U Mumba won their first 6 meetings in a row. In the previous five meetings, Pune have enjoyed success winning threetimes. In the remaining two matches, Mumba were victorious in one. The other one ended in a tie.

Mumbai vs Pune in last five meetings
 

Match No.	U Mumba	Puneri Paltan	Result
PKL 6, Match 46	31	22	U Mumba won by 9 points
PKL 6, Match 26	32	33	Puneri Paltan won by 1 point
PKL 6, Match 2	32	32	Match Tied
PKL 5, Match 125	24	43	Puneri Paltan won by 19 points
PKL 5, Match 48	24	26	Puneri Paltan won by 2 points

 

U Mumba vs Puneri Paltan probable starting seven

U Mumba	Vs	Puneri Paltan
Sandeep Narwal	Right Corner	Shubham Shinde
Athul MS	Right In	Pawan Kadian
Surender Singh	Right Cover	Surjeet Singh ©
Rohit Baliyan	Center	Nitin Tomar
Harendra Kumar	Left Cover	Deepak Yadav
Abhishek Singh	Left In	Manjeet
Fazel Atrachali ©	Left Corner	Girish Ernak