Haryana Steelers vs Gujarat Giants: Preview and Prediction
A vigilant Haryana Steelers franchise is up against the Gujarat Giants in Match No. 77 of Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 and the electrifying contest will be played at Sheraton Grand Whitefield Hotel in Bengaluru.
Haryana’s cover defenders Jaideep Dahiya and Rohit Gulia are in red-hot form after claiming High 5s in the previous fixture where a perfect team effort gave five valuable match-points to Steelers in a nail-biting thriller against U.P. Yoddha. Star all-rounder Gulia also made his comeback to the Starting 7 and the former Gujarat captain will be retaining his spot after being Haryana’s top scorer against Yoddhas.
Gujarat’s match number 74 with Bengaluru Bulls was postponed by the organizers and Manpreet Singh’s Giants will be returning with an ultimate aim of resurgence. Gujarat captain Ravinder Pahal was seen training in the gym hinting at the comeback as the right-corner suffered from a knee injury earlier and was out of action for quite a long time. Stand-in captain Sunil Kumar’s form resurrection will be a major relief for the Giants.
It will be a tough task for the Gujarat Giants defensive wall against the versatile raiding unit of Haryana Steelers. Meanwhile, Rakesh Kumar must issue a precaution to his defensive line about Gujarat’s super-sub Pardeep Kumar who turned the game on his own against Tamil Thalaivas in the dying minutes.
How have they done so far?
Haryana Steelers are marching towards the peak of the points table as the Vikash Kandola-led roster hasn’t dropped a single point in their last three fixtures. All four first-choice defenders of Haryana Steelers are living up to the expectations of coach Rakesh Kumar. Three of them are among the Top 12 of the tackle point-scorers chart which is topped by the debutant Steeler Jaideep Dahiya.
On the other hand, Gujarat Giants are roaming around the bottom of the points table for a second successive season. Gujarat gaffer Manpreet Singh is clocking the time of the return of their two first-choice corners Ravinder Pahal and Girish Maruti Ernak. Although the Ahmedabad-based franchise’s confidence must be sky-high after hunting 13 points from their last four fixtures.
Head to head record
The Steelers are leading the head-to-head count of this rivalry with five victories from eight encounters while Gujarat managed to defeat Haryana two times with one clash ending as a tie. Manpreet hasn’t got the better of the Steelers since the arrival of Rakesh Kumar in the coach’s corner of the blue side and the latter will be inspiring his ‘Dhakad Boys’ to continue a three-match winning run over the Ahmedabad-based franchise.
Key Players
Vikash Kandola: Vikash has the highest average for Steelers in each season since his arrival at Haryana hence the Railway raider has been rewarded with the captaincy of his home franchise. And the skipper is also living up to the expectations of management and fans. In his last two face-offs with Gujarat Giants’ defense, he completed Super 10s on both occasions. Vikash has 101 raid points from 12 appearances as the only Haryana raider in the Top 20.
Captain Vikash Kandola will be leading the Haryana Steelers from front
Rakesh Sungroya: Rakesh Sungroya is another product of the K7 Kabaddi Tournament that is rocking the grand stage of the Pro Kabaddi League. The highly skilled youngster’s raiding masterclass of 19 raid points went in vain when the Haryana-based raider faced his home side earlier this season. Rakesh is emerging as coach Manpreet’s most trusted raider and is among the League’s Top 10 list of highest raid points scorers so far.
Predicted Starting 7’s
Haryana Steelers: Vikash Kandola (C), Vinay Tewatia, Ashish Narwal, Jaideep Dahiya, Mohit Nandal, Surender Nada, Ravi Kumar
Gujarat Giants: Rakesh Sungroya, Rakesh Narwal, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput, Parvesh Bhainswal, Sunil Kumar (C), Soleiman Pahlevani, Ankit Sharma
Prediction
Keeping the overall record and current form in the same fixture, Haryana will be stepping out as the hot favorites to win this encounter. Although we can’t rule Giants out of the equation, their stakes are highly dependent on the prominent players of the roster.