Inspired by  Pawan Kumar Sehrawat ’s 19-point performance,  Bengaluru Bulls  beat  Jaipur Pink Panthers  45-32 at The Arena by TransStadia in Ahmedabad on Sunday.  Mahender Singh  shone in defence yet again and managed a High 5. For Jaipur Pink Panthers,  Deepak Niwas Hooda  returned his fourth Super 10. Jaipur Pink Panthers started the game well with Sandeep Dhull getting an Ankle Hold on Rohit Kumar in the very first raid of the match. That early momentum allowed them to take a 7-4 lead early on. A touch by Ajinkya Pawar on Ashish Kumar then reduced Bengaluru Bulls to a solitary player on the mat before Amit Kumar helped Jaipur Pink Panthers inflict the first All-Out of the game in the 11 th  minute with the scores reading 11-5. But with his first raid of the game, Kashiling Adake almost wiped the deficit out in the 14 th  minute as he returned with a five-point Super Raid with touches on Dhull, Anup Kumar, Mohit Chhillar and Sunil Siddhgavali to go with a bonus point. T

VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6 has seen close contests already early in the campaign, which has added to the excitement of the fans. Tamil Thalaivas managed a comprehensive win against Patna Pirates in their opening game before losing to U.P. Yoddha in a close contest. They will want to pick themselves up quickly and get back winning momentum when they face Telugu Titans in the second match on Tuesday. The first match will see Dabang Delhi K.C. take on a young look Gujarat Fortunegiants in a battle of youth against experience. Both teams have news captains this season and it will be interesting to see what difference the change in leadership brings about in their approach. Match 5 – Dabang Delhi K.C. vs Gujarat Fortunegiants Head-to-head: Dabang Delhi K.C. 0 – 3 Gujarat Fortunegiants A new look Dabang Delhi K.C. will want to take Gujarat Fortunegiants head on in the first game of their season. They have a strong defence led by captain Joginder Narwal to combat a Gujarat

A strong show in the first half allowed U.P. Yoddha to keep a buffer in the closing stages and seal a tense match 37-32 against Tamil Thalaivas at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai on Monday. U.P. Yoddha had led the proceedings comprehensively in the first half which allowed them to steer the course of the game. After a slow start, it was the Yoddha who opened the account after Nitesh Kumar kept Ajay Thakur's Frog Jump in check, upsetting his momentum as he leaped. Veteran Manjeet Chhillar's exit at the hands of raider Shrikant Jadhav shortly after made sure U.P. got into the drive. The metronomic scoring continued after Surjeet Singh, a star for the Thalaivas in the opening match, was brought down by Narender moments later with the Thalaivas firmly on the backfoot. Around midway through the first half, U.P. inflicted Thalaivas' first All-Out of the night, with the score reading 10-0 in their favour. Once they reassembled, the Thalaivas start

VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6 will see two big fixtures as Tamil Thalaivas will play host to three-time time champions Patna Pirates while the first Maharashtra Derby of the season will see Fazel Atrachali’s U Mumba clash with Girish Maruti Ernak’s Puneri Paltan in a battle of the defences. The contests promise a lot of excitement and here is what you can expect: Match 1 – Tamil Thalaivas vs Patna Pirates Head-to-head: Tamil Thalaivas 1 – 2 Patna Pirates The season will kick off with hosts Tamil Thalaivas taking on three-time champions Patna Pirates in the season opener. It will be an interesting contest particularly keeping in mind that Patna Pirates will come into the match on the back of a five-game unbeaten streak in the closing stages of Season 5 which saw them lift the trophy. But interestingly their last loss came at the hand of Tamil Thalaivas in Match 124 of Season 5. The Thalaivas also hold an advantage as the host team has won opening game in four

The battle between Bengaluru Bulls and Telugu Titans was one of the most anticipated events of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5. Fans were looking forward to seeing some intense action as the teams lined up at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday, and one will have to say that the match lived up to the hype as ‘Raid Machine’ Rahul Chaudhari’s Titans lost the contest 31-21 against the Rohit Kumar-led Bengaluru Bulls. Speaking at the post-match press conference, the Bengaluru Bulls skipper was pleased with his team’s effort. “Winning the first match has improved our confidence for the rest of the league,” Rohit said happily. Going into the league, coach Randhir Singh had preferred youth over experience while picking the team, and if one goes by this match, he appears to be spot on with his approach. “If you notice, in all the matches of the league so far the younger players have been doing well. It is a long league and I personally believe that the energy levels the youngsters

Debutants Haryana Steelers fought hard against an experienced U Mumba side in their VIVO Pro Kabaddi match on Sunday but fell just short as the latter won 29-28 at Hyderabad’s Gachibowli Indoor Stadium. They would still hold their heads high though, as they ensured the seasoned Mumbai franchise had to sweat for their win. The main credit for their strong show would most definitely go to young raider Vikash Khandola. Offence was thought to be the chink in the Steelers’ armour ahead of their first match as they lacked experienced raiders but Khandola showed his class with 6 raid points, proving he was as good a raider as any this season. He kept the U Mumba tacklers on their toes and scored consistently keeping the Steelers fans interested till the end. Going forward, Haryana Steelers will hope this young talent can maintain his intensity and turn into a match-winner for them.

Match 6 was Telugu Titans’ third match of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5 and after a defeat in the last match against Patna Pirates, they were hoping to return to winning ways against Bengaluru Bulls at Hyderabad’s Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on Sunday. The Bulls, on the other hand, with the youngest squad in the season wanted to start off their 2017 campaign with a win. Rahul Chaudhari and Rohit Kumar, the two captains, had the spotlight on them. Rohit won the toss and got the chance to choose the court. ‘Raid Machine’ Rahul Chaudhari started the raid bid for Telugu Titans, while Ajay Kumar went for Bengaluru Bulls, but both the raids ended empty. The first point of the match was won by Titans’ Vikas through his raid. In the 3rd minute, the most awaited moment of the match occurred when Chaudhari got a successful raid and reached the mega milestone of becoming the first player to complete 500 raid points in VIVO Pro Kabaddi history. Bengaluru opened their account through Ajay’s bonu

U Mumba proved on Sunday that they are a force to be reckoned with in this fifth edition of VIVO Pro Kabaddi as raiders Anup Kumar and Kashiling Adake brought all their experience into play to steal a 29-28 victory from debutants Haryana Steelers at Hyderabad’s Gachibowli Indoor Stadium. As the first half got underway, raiders from both teams played carefully and did not take any unnecessary chances. Till the 15 th  minute both teams were neck and neck with nothing to choose between them. The defenders from the Haryana Steelers, however, came to the party late in the first half to inflict an All-out on U Mumba, and went into the break with a 15-11 lead. Haryana Steelers kept up the pressure in the second half and put the U Mumba defence under tremendous pressure and raced to a 19-12 lead before long. Things looked really ominous for U Mumba. Adake and ‘Captain Cool’ Kumar, though, had other plans. After failing to perform according to his standards in the last game, Adake retu

The second day of VIVO Pro Kabaddi saw Dabang Delhi K.C. winning their encounter against Season 1 champions Jaipur Pink Panthers, and defending champions Patna Pirates getting the better of Telugu Titans in Hyderabad on Saturday. Both matches witnessed a number of star players showing their class with much aplomb. With a massive 15 points, including a Super 10, Patna’s Pardeep Narwal put on an extraordinary show against the home side which was backed by a vociferous crowd. But our pick for ‘Star of the Day’ goes to another captain – Dabang Delhi’s Meraj Sheykh. The Iranian all-rounder led from the front and ensured his team’s morale never dropped through the intense match. With the team trailing by a fair margin at the halfway mark, the focus was on Sheykh to bring his team back into the game and he did it with sheer finesse. The Delhi side turned the match on its head, on the back of Sheykh’s perfect raids and Nilesh Shinde’s rock solid tackles. Sheykh ended the match with