New Delhi, July 19: The opening game of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 will be played between Telugu Titans and U Mumba at Gachibowly Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad on Saturday (July 20).
All the teams will be facing each other twice in a double round-robin format with Telugu Titans starting the season with their home leg. The Titans - who went for a major overhaul during the auction for the seventh season - would be looking to start their campaign with a bang and set the tone for a dominating season.
Telugu Titans released their star raider Rahul Chaudhari this season but bought another star raider in Siddharth Desai - who was awarded the debutant of season 6. Desai set the PKL mat on fire with his exploits in the last season for U Mumba and team management would be hoping for a similar stellar show from their most expensive player.
In Farhad Milaghardan they have a strong all-rounder while Vishal Bhardwaj - team's captain - and Abozar Mohajermighani will give even the best of raiders a run for their money.
Telugu Titans: Starting 7: Siddharth Desai (R), Amit Kumar (R), Suraj Desai (R), Abozar Mighani (defender), Vishal Bharadwaj (defender/c), C. Arun (all-rounder), Farhad Milaghardan.
U Mumba - the winners of the season two - would also be keen to start the new season on a confident note and better their playoff stage finish from the previous season.
U Mumba has always had a solid defence and this time it will be led by Iran's national captain Fazel Atrachali. All-rounder Sandeep Narwal, who leads Pro Kabaddi's all-time Super Tackles chart, and defender Surender Singh make U Mumba's defence strong. Rohit Baliyan could lead U Mumba's raiding department, with the support of Dong Geon Lee.
U Mumba: Starting 7: Rohit Baliyan (R), Vinoth Kumar (R), Abhishek Singh (R), Mohit Balyan (all-rounder), Sandeep Narwal (all-rounder), Surender Singh (defender), Fazel Atrachali (defender).
Captain: Siddharth Desai
Vice Captain: Fazel Atracheli