The season-7 of Pro Kabaddi League which kickstarts from July 20 (tomorrow) features a cracker of a contest between Telugu Titans and U Mumba at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad. The match will see Telugu Titans coach Gholamreza Mazandarani and raider Siddharth Desai take on their former side in what promises to be an epic encounter.

The second match on opening day will witness defending champions Bengaluru Bulls face three-time champions Patna Pirates in a clash that will pit Season-6’s Most Valuable Player Pawan Kumar Sehrawat against two-time MVP Pardeep Narwal.

The Season-7 campaign will see the league adopt a double round robin format, where each team will play the other sides twice and the top six will qualify to the playoffs at the end of the league stage. Each team will have a home leg, where they will play four matches on Saturdays, Sundays, Wednesdays and Friday with Tuesdays serving as a rest day for all 12 legs of the league stage.

Hyderabad will host the opening leg of the new campaign followed by which the action will move to Mumbai. Season-7 will also see the return of Pro Kabaddi action in Jaipur and Bengaluru after a two-year absence. The final leg of the campaign will be held in Greater Noida and will be followed by a two-day gap before the start of the Playoffs.

The Playoff format, too, has been revamped ahead of the upcoming campaign. The top two teams at the end of the league stage will qualify for semi-final 1 and 2, while the four other sides that make it to the Playoffs will battle each other in Eliminator 1 and 2 to decide who advances to the semi-finals. The winners of those two encounters will fight for the Pro Kabaddi crown in the grand finale on October 19.