A high-voltage encounter between the inaugural champions and the most successful Pro Kabaddi League franchise is on the cards. Finalists of the fourth edition of PKL Patna Pirates and Jaipur Pink Panthers will be taking on each other in match number 83 at Bengaluru’s Sheraton Grand Whitefield Hotel.
Patna made a historic comeback by thrashing Tamil Thalaivas by 28 points with a scoreline of 52-24 in favor of Pirates. Patna defenders made a whopping 21 successful tackle attempts which is the second-highest tackle points total in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League. It was an incredible day for the Pirates as every Patna player had a stellar day at work, especially the defensive department which had three High 5 scorers (Mohammadreza, Sunil, and Neeraj) from that clash.
Jaipur Pink Panthers were defeated by the defending champions Bengal Warriors on a unilateral scoreline of 41-22. They dearly missed the services of Deepak Hooda who hasn’t featured in the matchday squad from the last two Jaipur fixtures. We also witnessed a rear failure of the right corner Sahul Kumar who is the highest tackle points scorer for Jaipur in season eight so far.
Pink Panthers emerged victorious against Pirates with a scoreline of 38-29 the last time they battled out each other. Former Jaipur captain Deepak Niwas Hooda scored a match-winning Super 10 and guided the inaugural champions in a nine-point victory over table-toppers of that time. Patna’s high-profile defensive line could contribute only four points in the team total while the same number of tackle points were claimed by Sahul Kumar alone.
How have they done so far?
Patna has been the most decorated PKL franchise and the Pirates are delivering performance in season eight according to their rich history. The defensive line of Green Vikings is considered as the deadliest defensive unit of season eight so far. The perfect combination of vigilant offense and robust defense earned them the crown of table-toppers but the unavailability of Pirates due to covid circumstances halted their reign.
Pink Panthers kick-started their season eight campaign on a great note and maintained their stance at the upper half of the points table. The Rajasthan-based franchise hasn’t won a single from their last four fixtures as the inconsistency of roster is squandering their ultimate goal of playoffs qualification. Sandeep Dhull has taken over the leadership from Deepak Hooda but the star left corner is yet to deliver as a captain.
Head to head record
A comprehensive win from their previous face-off helped Jaipur to improve their overall head-to-head record as they currently stand on six victories. On the other hand, the green side is leading the count with nine victories from 15 encounters with Pink Panthers. Patna became the first and only franchise to successfully defend the Pro Kabaddi League title when they defeated Jaipur in the finals of the fourth edition. Interestingly, Patna’s then captain Dharmaraj Cheralathan is part of the Jaipur Pink Panthers roster.
Key Players
Arjun Deshwal: The services youngster is enjoying his breakthrough season at PKL with 152 raid points and ten Super 10s from the 13 games of the season eight campaign. Arjun has been the only consistent performer for Jaipur this season with a marvelous average of 11.69 raid points per match. His tally of 10 raid points against Bengal Warriors was around 45% of the team total in their previous fixture.
A fierce battle between two young forces of the PKL!
Mohammadreza Shadloui: The Iranian prince was the most expensive foreigner from the auction room and justified every penny spent by Patna on him. The astonishing numbers of the left corner defender prove him as the best foreign player of the PKL season eight so far. In his last game, Mohammadreza scored six tackle points with a strike rate of 75% and issued a warning to Jaipur raiders.
Predicted Starting 7’s
Patna Pirates: Monu Goyat, Sachin Tanwar, Prashanth Kumar Rai (C), Neeraj Kumar, Sajin Chandrasekar, Mohammadreza Shadloui, Sunil Narwal
Jaipur Pink Panthers: Arjun Deshwal, Amit Nagar, Naveen Bazzad, Vishal Lather, Deepak Singh, Sandeep Dhull (C), Sahul Kumar
Prediction
Beyond a doubt, the Bihar-based franchise will be stepping on the mat as hot favorites, and even a single point this fixture will grant them the crown of table-toppers. It will be a tough challenge for Pink Panthers to stop this force as Jaipur are also struggling with their current form.