The Rohit-Nitin face-off awaits fans on Matchday 8

Matchday 8 is here with a couple of high-octane fixtures to be played between teams boasting some of the best raiders in the business. As we move into the second week of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5, let’s lay focus on Saturday’s clashes at Nagpur’s Mankapur Indoor Stadium.

Match 14 (Zone A): U Mumba vs Dabang Delhi K.C.

Head-to-Head: U Mumba 7:1 Dabang Delhi K.C.

The mat will be ready for the two teams representing the two biggest cities of India to take centre stage. Delhi’s track record against Mumbai is not encouraging as they have lost 7 of their 8 encounters against them, and the latter would prefer to keep things that way.

U Mumba come into the match after losing their first match against Puneri Paltan and narrowly winning their second against Haryana Steelers. The defence has been an area of worry for the U Mumba side as they have conceded 61 points in their two matches and would now require the likes of D. Suresh Kumar and Joginder Narwal to show their class. A star-studded attacking line-up consisting of Anup Kumar, Kashiling Adake and Shabeer Bappu is, however, adequately equipped to stress out any opponent.

Dabang Delhi K.C., meanwhile, come into the match following back-to-back defeats, preceded by a comeback win against Jaipur Pink Panthers in their opening match. The attacking force is led by captain Meraj Sheykh but the star player has been unable to collect a single point in the last two matches, after showcasing sheer brilliance against Jaipur. Anand Patil, however, made his presence felt in Friday’s match against the Bulls by collecting 8 raid points. Nilesh Shinde is in fine form and if the partnership with Bajirao Hodage clicks in the match, it would be hard to get past them.

Match 15 (Zone B): Bengaluru Bulls vs U.P. Yoddha

Match 15 will witness the two most expensive players of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5 taking on each other. Rohit Kumar meets fellow star raider Nitin Tomar at a stage where both the players are enjoying great form. Kumar already has two match-winning Super 10s from as many games, while Tomar guided his team to a thumping victory over Telugu Titans in their first match.

Besides Rohit, Ajay Kumar has also impressed in the raiding department and will be one to watch out for. Preetam Chhillar, Ravinder Pahal and Mahender Singh have also been in good form at the back, giving the youngest squad in the league plenty of depth. The Bulls have inflicted the maximum All-Outs in the season as of now at 4 besides having the best tackle points average at 11.5.

U.P. Yoddha, on the other hand, has the brilliance of Tomar aided by another star raider Rishank Devadiga, who put up a great display in their previous match. The experience of Jeeva Kumar and Rajesh Narwal also brought in great dividends for the team, with youngster Nitesh Kumar also impressing one and all in the last match. With an average raid points of 17 and average tackle points of 11, one can easily gauge how gifted this team is in every department and definitely one to watch out for in this season.

Catch all the live action of VIVO Pro Kabaddi from 8:00 PM IST onwards on the Star Sports network and hotstar.