And the final matchday of the Pro Kabaddi Season 9 league stage is set to go underway as we will get to see a triple-header saga for the last time in this edition. Hyderabad’s Gachibowli Indoor Stadium is set to host Matchday 56 which will be held on Saturday from 7:30 PM onwards.
The action-packed Matchday 56 will commence with the battle between two neighboring franchises Bengaluru Bulls and U Mumba. Haryana Steelers who will be fighting for the playoff ticket till the last second will be up against Tamil Thalaivas who created history in their most recent appearance. In the final episode of the triple-header night, Mani’s Bengal Warriors will be summoned by their old rivals, Patna Pirates, to battle for regional supremacy.
Match 130: Bengaluru Bulls vs U Mumba
The Karnataka-based franchise registered an emphatic victory over Patna in their penultimate league fixture where a whopping total of 101 points were scored by both teams. Meanwhile, U Mumba ended up on the losing side with a 41-24 scoreline against the defending champions Dabang Delhi in the traditional battle of the two biggest metropolises of the country. The Capital-based franchise put a full stop to the contention of MumBoys for the playoff qualification tickets as the Orange and Blacks now will be aiming to spoil parties.
The first chapter of this rivalry between two finalists of Pro Kabaddi Season 2 was won by Men in Red and Blacks with a winning score difference of 10 points. The raiding duo of Bharat Hooda and Vikash Kandola accumulated a combined tally of 24 raid points to guide their side toward triumph over the neighboring rivals. Mumba skipper Surinder Singh (4 tackle points) and strike raider Guman Singh (11 raid points) played their hearts out but could not even fetch a single consolation point.
Mumba first-choice captain Surinder Singh has been once again ruled unfit to take part as the right-corner defender Rinku Sharma will be seen in leadership. Meanwhile, Ashish Narwal and Jai Bhagwan may make a return to the Starting Seven to accommodate Guman in the offensive department for the last dance.
The Bengaluru boss is leading the Bulls toward another successful campaign
Plenty of changes in the starting lineup of Bengaluru Bulls are expected as coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat may look forward to resting his key players for the dead-rubber fixture. However, the winning odds are still favoring the Red and Blacks who have an advantageous current form and also defeated MumBoys earlier this season.
Predicted Starting Seven
Bengaluru Bulls: Neeraj Narwal, Vikash Kandola, Sachin Narwal; Mahender Singh (C), Sudhakar Kadam; Ran Singh, Saurabh Nandal
U Mumba: Guman Singh, Ashish Narwal, Jai Bhagwan; Harendra Kumar, Rahul Sethpal; Mohit, Rinku Sharma (C)
Match 131: Tamil Thalaivas vs Haryana Steelers
Tamil Thalaivas claimed five match points in a one-sided manner after emerging victorious against the heavyweights UP Yoddhas on a final scoreline of 43-28 on Wednesday. With a thumping win, the Thalaivas also ensured their qualification to the playoffs stages of Pro Kabaddi for the first time in their franchise history. The Steelers have kept themselves alive in the competition despite their recent defeat however, Delhi can knock them out after fetching a single point in their last league game on Thursday.
The circumstances were quite different when the last time these two latest entrants of the PKL roster were up against each other. The Services assailant Manjeet Dahiya and the current Haryana skipper Nitin Rawal starred for the Steelers who kick-started their ninth edition campaign with two in two victories. The Chennai-based outfit graced the battlefield of Season 9 for the first time without having Pawan Kumar Sehrawat in their Starting Seven and managed to score 22 points.
The failure of the poster boys of Haryana’s defense, Jaideep Dahiya and Nitin Rawal was one of the biggest reasons behind their defeat at the hands of the Pink Panthers. On the other hand, the raiding unit of the Blues also not playing up to the expectations and has underperformed due to the pressure.
Ashan Kumar made four changes in the 35th minute of the UP fixture when victory was just a formality for the Yellow and Blues. All four of them, Sachin, Himanshu Singh, K Abhimanyu and Visvanath V must have expectations of getting more game time against the Household of Kabaddi.
Predicted Starting Seven
Tamil Thalaivas: Ajinkya Pawar (C), Himanshu Singh, Himanshu Yadav; Mohit Jakhar, M Abhishek; Sahil Gulia, Arpit Saroha
Haryana Steelers: Manjeet Dahiya, Meetu Sharma, Rakesh Narwal; Jaideep Dahiya, Mohit Nandal; Nitin Rawal (C), Monu Hooda
Match 132: Patna Pirates vs Bengal Warriors
Maninder will be gracing the Pro Kabaddi Season 9 stage for one last time
Unlike the previous face-offs between these two decorated franchises, we may not see intense combat as both of them have already been out of the playoffs race. Mumba’s one-sided defeat at the hands of Dabang Fauj not only eliminated them but also decided the fate of the three-time Pro Kabaddi champions. On the other hand, the seventh-edition champions Bengal Warriors were thrashed by the table-toppers Jaipur Pink Panthers on a deficit of 26 points on the triple-header matchday of the previous game week.
Earlier this season, the Royal Tigers from the land of Bengal hammered Patna by 28 points deficit to hand them the fourth consecutive defeat of the season. Bengal’s Mighty Maninder scored an incredible Super 10 at the strike rate of 75 to keep them on the winning side of a 54-26 high-scoring saga. The Bihar-based franchise stood toe-to-toe with the neighborhood rivals until 10 minutes of the play but miserably failed to sustain further the momentum in the latter stages.
Anand Tomar once again scored 5 raid points while coming off the substitute bench as the consecutive cameo performance may land the Vidarbha raider directly into the Patna seven. The Iranian prince Mohammadreza Shadloui has the last chance to overtake Ankush Rathee on the leaderboard of tackle points before his journey in the ninth edition ends.
It is going to be an intriguing contest between the two bottom-placed sides who are craving for a breakthrough to end their winless run in the PKL 9 before wrapping up. Maninder Singh will be indulged in direct combat with the opposition defender holding the left-corner position named Mohammadreza and the winner of this mini-contest will brighten up the winning chances of their respective sides.
Predicted Starting Seven
Patna Pirates: Sachin Tanwar, Rohit Gulia, Anand Tomar; Sajin Chandrasekar, Neeraj Kumar; Mohammadreza Shadloui, Sunil Narwal
Bengal Warriors: Maninder Singh (C), Shrikant Jadhav, Ajinkya Kapre; Balaji Dhanapal, Ashish Sangwan; Surender Nada, Shubham Shinde