The continuous kabaddi action has rarely given the fans a space to breathe as Matchday 28 of PKL 9 takes place at the Shivchatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Tuesday. Bengal Warriors, UP Yoddhas, Dabang Delhi, and Telugu Titans will be the three teams in action.
After winning their previous game against Gujarat Giants, Bengal Warriors return to action with their opponents being UP Yoddhas this time. Dabang Delhi, on the other hand, squares off against Telugu Titans and will be raring to regain their winning mojo after losing six on the trot.
Bengal Warriors occupy the sixth spot in the points table with 29 points from 10 games. The Yoddhas, on the other hand, sit in the tenth position with just two points less than their opponents.
Delhi is fifth on the table with 30 points, but that is largely due to the stupendous form they had at the start of the season. Telugu Titans sit rock bottom with only a solitary win from 11 matches.
Match 66: Bengal Warriors vs UP Yoddhas
Bengal Warriors have had a lopsided season so far, winning five from their ten matches while losing four and drawing once. They have won only twice in their last five games, which came against Gujarat Giants and Dabang Delhi.
Maninder Singh has been on the money in the last two fixtures, amassing 20 and 19 points respectively. Defensively, Girish Ernak and Vaibhav Garje have formed a solid partnership to usher out the opponents from the mat. In case Maninder isn’t up to his mark, Bengal has the likes of Deepak Niwas Hooda and Shrikant Jadhav to pick up raid points.
The two losses which Bengal faced in their last five matches came against teams that rely on their defensive strength to win matches, namely Puneri Paltan and U Mumba. So, if the Yoddhas need to beat the Warriors, their defenders will have to be on their toes.
The Yoddhas, too, have only two wins from their last five matches beating the two bottom-placed sides in the league – Tamil Thalaivas and Telugu Titans. Their previous game against Haryana Steelers ended in a 36-36 tie as Surender Gill’s Super 10 was not enough for UP to take home the full points.
Gurdeep picked up six tackle points in the match against Telugu Titans but has been out of favour in the last couple of matches. Without him, the Yoddhas have a very weak defense as they were able to pick up only 15 tackle points from their last two matches.
Both Bengal and UP rely on their raiders to win matches, so it is likely that the one who has a better defense ends up winning the tie. On paper, Bengal has the upper hand in that department. Hence, we predict the Warriors to win the tie.
Predicted Starting Seven
Bengal Warriors: Maninder Singh (C), Vaibhav Garje, Girish Maruti Ernak, Shubham Shinde, Balaji D, Shrikant Jadhav, Deepak Niwas Hooda
UP Yoddhas: Rohit Tomar, Nitesh Kumar, Sumit, Ashu Singh, Shubham Kumar, Pardeep Narwal (C), Surender Gill
Match 67: Dabang Delhi vs Telugu Titans
After winning five on the trot, Dabang Delhi lost their six consecutive matches. The sudden change in form is largely due to the poor performance of their captain and star player of last season Naveen Kumar.
The defenders have gone for an advanced tackle against him and have been able to pin him down. Although he has a Super 10 to his name in five of the losing games, a significant portion of his points came via bonuses. He has been forced to spend a long time on the bench as the other players have failed to revive him.
Ashu Malik also has to step up to support Delhi in the absence of Naveen. Usually, every team has two raiders on their side to bag points and Ashu needs to fill that role to arrest Delhi’s slide.
The situation for Telugu Titans is no different, losing all of their previous eight encounters including one against Dabang Delhi. Their only win came against a Patna Pirates side that entered the mat without Mohammadreza Shadloui as he was yet to arrive in the country.
Siddharth Desai bagged 18 and 14 points respectively in their previous two matches against Tamil Thalaivas and U Mumba respectively. Unfortunately, both of them came in a losing cause as the secondary raiders and defense failed to support him.
Both Delhi and the Titans have problems in their defense and rely on a single raider to notch up points. So, we expect the encounter to be a high-scoring affair but Delhi might come out on top owing to their previous 20-point win over Telugu Titans.
Predicted Starting Seven
Dabang Delhi: Ravi Kumar, Vishal, Naveen Kumar (C), Manjeet, Ashu Malik, Krishan, Vijay
Telugu Titans: Abhishek Singh, PO Surjeet Singh, Vijay Kumar, Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari, Siddharth Sirish Desai (C), Vishal Bhardwaj, Parvesh Bhainswal