Matchday 33 of PKL 9 starts with table toppers Puneri Paltan locking horns with ninth-placed Bengal Warriors at the Shiv Chatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Monday in Match 78. It will be followed by Gujarat Giants taking on Haryana Steelers at the same venue to close out the evening.
Puneri Paltan occupies the summit position in the table with 44 points from 13 matches. Although they lost two of their last three matches by a margin of one point or less, they are losing their grip on the leaderboard and look vulnerable to being dethroned.
Bengal Warriors have a lot of ground to cover as they have only 32 points to their name. The good news for them is that they have played only 11 matches and have the necessary time to pick themselves up. Unbeaten in their last three games, they have won once and shared the spoils twice.
Gujarat Giants are positioned eleventh in the table with 31 points from 11 games. With only one win from the last three matches, they will have to bounce back in form before the business end of the league commences.
Haryana Steelers have lost all three of their last matches as they had no reply to the likes of UP Yoddha, Bengaluru Bulls, and Patna Pirates. Occupying the tenth spot with 31 points from 13 games, things look tough for the Steelers to finish in the top half of the table.
Match 78: Bengal Warriors vs Puneri Paltan
Bengal Warriors’ problem in the last season, which is overdependence on Maninder Singh upfront, continues this year as well. Deepak Niwas Hooda has failed to fill in the gap of a secondary raider. Moreover, Maninder has to spend a lot of time on the bench once he gets tackled as the defenders haven’t revived in a timely fashion.
Defensively speaking, Girish Ernak and Vaibhav Garje have done their best with their dives to take out the opposition raiders. It can work against the team of Puneri Paltan as they are not known for their raiding prowess.
However, the Paltans are very strong on the defense with Fazel Atrachali’s assists helping Sanket Sawant and Abhinesh Nadarajan’s tackles. Unlike Bengal Warriors, Pune has two raiders to rely on, namely Mohit Goyat and Aslam Inamdar. As both of them are all-rounders, they help the team in defense as well, encapsulating the team’s total kabaddi style of play.
The last time these two sides faced each other, Puneri Paltan pipped Bengal Warriors by a margin of two points. Although the latter had 16 raid points to their name as opposed to Pune’s 10, the Paltans were strong on their defense and inflicted the only All Out of the game which proved to be the difference.
Fazel Atrachali completed a High Five while Sombir notched four tackle points in that game. Given that Fazel is well-versed with Bengal Warriors’ raiders, we predict Puneri Paltan to win the match again.
Predicted Starting Seven
Bengal Warriors: Maninder Singh (C), Vaibhav Garje, Girish Maruti Ernak, Shubham Shinde, Balaji D, Shrikant Jadhav, Deepak Niwas Hooda
Puneri Paltan: Mohammad Nabibakhsh, Abinesh Nadarajan, Sanket Sawant, Mohit Goyat, Fazel Atrachali (C), Aslam Inamdar, Sombir
Match 79: Gujarat Giants vs Haryana Steelers
Gujarat Giants and Haryana Steelers both have been the perennial punching bag of the season alongside Telugu Titans. A win for either of them can mark a change in their momentum towards the business end of the season.
Gujarat Giants have entrusted Rakesh Sungroya to pick up raid points for his side and he has been supported nicely by Parteek Dahiya. Both of them notched a Super 10 to their name in the game against Bengaluru Bulls and that proved to be pivotal in their win.
Haryana Steelers have three raiders in form, namely Manjeet Dahiya, Meetu Mhahender, and K Prapanjan. However, their performances are still not enough to push them to the top half of the table. Jaideep notched a High Five to his name in the previous game against UP Yoddha but his effort went in vain.
Both Giants and Steelers look out of form but we will give the edge to the former as they beat the latter in their previous meeting this season. Rakesh Sungroya notched 18 raid points to his name while Sourav Gulia bagged a High Five to himself. The form of both players will be crucial in the coming encounter.
Predicted Starting Seven
Gujarat Giants: Manuj, Chandran Ranjit, Parteek Dhaiya, Vijin Thangadurai, Arkam Shaikh, Rakesh HS, Rinku Narwal (C)
Haryana Steelers: Manjeet Dahiya (C), Amirhossein Bastami, Nitin Rawal, Jaideep Kuldeep, Mohit, K. Prapanjan, Vinay