Ahmedabad: The second semi-final of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season will see Bengal Warriors take on U Mumba for a spot in the league's final. All the Bengal players will be well rested and ready ahead of the clash after a weeks break between their last league stage match and the semi-final. U Mumba, though, will have positive momentum on their side after outdoing Haryana Steelers convincingly in Eliminator 2.
After an indifferent start to the campaign, Bengal Warriors managed an eight-match unbeaten streak which finally broke in their penultimate league stage match where they faced defeat against Patna Pirates. They managed to win their next match even in skipper Maninder Singh's absence, but the earlier defeat meant that they had to settle for a second-place finish in the standings.
Maninder has led the Bengal attack from the front and registered his second straight 200-raid point campaign in the process. He has already recorded his best performance in a match this season with his 19-raid point showing against Jaipur Pink Panthers in Match 103. He also recorded the most Super 10s he has ever recorded in a single season (10) and equalled his record for the most Super Raids in a single season (6) while averaging more than 10 raid points per game.
Maninder has found strong support in K. Prapanjan, Mohammad Nabibakhsh and Sukesh Hegde this season. Thus, Bengal have three raiders, who have more than 75 raid points in the season, making them one of the most potent raiding units in the league.
On the other hand, U Mumba's shaky start to the league stages gave way to a strong finish as they came into the play-offs on the back of a four-match unbeaten streak and managed to extend it to five with their win against Haryana Steelers in Eliminator 2. The team put in a convincing performance against Haryana, conceding just five tackle points while picking up 32 raid points to outplay Rakesh Kumar's men in every department.
U Mumba's leading raider this season, Abhishek Singh, shone in the second Eliminator as well, scoring 16 raid points to add to his 135 raid points before the match, bringing up a 150-point season. He averages 7.55 raid points per match with nine Super 10s and three Super Raids to his name.
