Tamil Thalaivas have a forthcoming challenge of Bengal Warriors who will be turning up for this encounter to protect the pride of being defending champions. Bengaluru’s Sheraton Grand Whitefield Hotel will be hosting this action-packed panga between Maninder’s Bengal Tigers and Thalaivas led by Surjeet in Match 122 of the Pro Kabaddi League.
Surjeet played a pivotal role in the resurgence of the Bengal Warriors in the fifth and sixth editions as a captain. Now the right-cover defender is up against his beloved former franchise and will leave no stone unturned to give it back to the Bengal. Another veteran defender Ran Singh who dons the left-corner position in the Warriors was part of the Tamil roster in the previous season.
Bengal enjoyed a nine-point victory over Thalaivas when both franchises squared off on the battlefield earlier this season. The Chennai-based side’s defense had no answers for the fatal arrows aimed by Bengal captain Maninder who went on to score 12 raid points that night. While Thalaiva Surjeet contributed three tackles and two raid points in the final scoreline of 37-28 favoring the Warriors.
Vishal Mane made a glorious comeback to the PKL making his way through CCP (Covid Contingency Player) category to the Starting 7 but the monstrous cover defender is lacking consistency this season. Vishal remained pointless in three out of six starts he received and BC Ramesh is worried about it as the Bengal gaffer gave preference to the veteran ahead of other young options.
How have they done so far?
After claiming the Pro Kabaddi League crown in the seventh season, things have been completely different for Warriors in Season 8. The Kolkata-based franchise is having a forgettable campaign while defending their PKL title and are currently standing in the eleventh position on the points table.
Warriors were handed over a despising ten-point defeat by the U Mumba side in their previous fixture eventually crushing their chances of advancing to the playoffs stage. While Tamil Thalaivas Season 8 journey hasn’t been much different from Bengal as the Chennai-based franchise is also roaming around the bottom half of the points table in this season so far.
Head to Head record
The head-to-head record between Warriors and Thalaivas is completely dominated by the Royal Tigers from the land of Bengal. Kolkata has registered eight victories in this head-to-head count while Chennai could fetch only one from nine encounters. Interestingly, Thalaivas’ solitary victory over the eastern counterparts came back in 2017 during their debut campaign at the grand stage of the PKL and Bengal have claimed seven straight wins ever since then.
Key Players
The third highest PKL raid points scorer Maninder Singh is ready to climb another spot
Maninder Singh: We witnessed a rear failure of Maninder in Season 8 against U Mumba as the Captain could score only six raid points in that fixture. The wounded tiger of Bengal is eagerly waiting to summon the Tamil defense after surpassing Rahul Chaudhari in the all-time raiding charts of the PKL. The Punjabi striker will be aiming to repeat the individual brilliance against Tamil Thalaivas which was struck by him earlier this season.
Surjeet: The defending champions parted ways with the legendary defender before the commencement of Season 7 and right-cover joined the Puneri Paltan camp. Surjeet failed to perform against Bengal since moving out and has scored just five tackle points from three encounters. He will have to step up and take the responsibility to Maninder on his shoulders in order to aim for the five match-points from this fixture.
Predicted Starting 7’s
Bengal Warriors: Maninder Singh (C), Mohammad Nabibakhsh, Manoj Gowda, Vishal Mane, Amit Narwal, Ran Singh, Abozar Mighani
Tamil Thalaivas: Manjeet Dahiya, Ajinkya Pawar, Himanshu Yadav, Surjeet (C), Mohit Jakhar, Sagar Rathee, Sahil Gulia
Prediction
Both teams are going through a dark patch right now, hence it’s hard to predict the winner on the basis of their recency. Bengal’s chances of emerging as the winner of this contest are heavily dependent on Captain Maninder while Tamil Thalaivas odds also revolve around the right corner/cover duo of Surjeet and Sagar Rathee.