Patna Pirates are ready to make a comeback to the mat after a gap of ten days between their last and this match due to covid reasons. The most decorated franchise in the history of the league will face Tamil Thalaivas at Bengaluru’s Sheraton Grand Whitefield Hotel in Match No. 80 of the PKL season eight caravan.
A ten-day break between two fixtures has broken the rhythm of the Patna Pirates roster which was on destruction mode before the halt. Coach Ram Mehar Singh will have a challenging task to bring Patna back on track as such lengthy gaps in between crucial stages of the tournament may make or break things for Pirates.
Tamil Thalaivas have proven themselves as one of the toughest defensive sides of season eight so far but circumstances are changing over the past few matchdays. The young raiding unit is displaying efficacious performance while recent failures from the defensive department are squandering their diligent efforts. Thalaivas fielded five defenders in the lineup against Pink Panthers yet ended up delivering a defensive disaster-class. Where only four tackle points were scored by five defenders who featured in the lineup and no one could score more than one tackle point among them.
The return of two key players, star raider Monu Goyat and right corner Sunil Narwal in the Starting 7 is expected and it will amaze Patna fans who are hoping for a grand comeback from Pirates. Meanwhile, Thalaivas coach J Udayakumar may not consider any changes in the lineup and continue with the same combination of two raiders and five defenders.
How have they done so far?
Patna Pirates were seated on the points-table thrones when their season eight campaign was halted in midway. With three games advantage in hand, the three-time Pro Kabaddi champions are just six points behind the table-toppers Bengaluru Bulls. Even a win in this encounter will escort them to the second position in the standings as the match-points difference between these sides are minimal.
On the other hand, Telugu Titans’ season eight journey has been completely contrary to Pirates as the Hyderabad-based franchise managed to win only once in their 13 attempts. Sandeep Kandola is the fourth player to lead Titans in the short journey so far, others being Rohit Kumar, Siddharth Desai, and Surinder Singh. They’re currently hitting rock bottom of the points table with 19 points and a win against Pirates won’t mount them up in the standings.
Tamil Thalaivas commenced their season eight campaign in a rigorous way where they maintained their stance in the upper half of the points table. Eventually, a six-match undefeated run was followed by a winless streak of four matches which brought them on 9th position of standings.
Head to head record
Patna Pirates are leading the head-to-head count of this rivalry with five victories while also developing a five-match undefeated streak over Thalaivas. On the other hand, Tamil Thalaivas managed to register only two victories and are yet to triumph since their debut season of 2017. Thalaivas’ current raid-machine Manjeet Dahiya made it to the grand stage of PKL with Pirates but left the franchise after just one season. Manjeet witnessed their previous face-off with Patna from the substitute bench due to lack of fitness but is ready to rock this time as he recently completed the century of total points from season eight.
Key Players
Sachin Tanwar: The former poster boy of Gujarat Giants is now doing wonders for the Bihar-based franchise. Sachin has leveled up his game in the absence of Patna’s star raider Monu Goyat and is leading the Pirates’ attack. He is the top scorer of his side after having 68 raid points with a 40% strike rate from 11 games of season eight campaign. Not just offensive contributions but Sachin also possesses a defensive threat on opponents as the 22-year-old also has one High 5 so far.
A tough challenge for Tamil Thalaivas’ defense to keep flamboyant Sachin silent
Ajinkya Pawar: After a series of impressive substitute appearances Ajinkya finally convinced coach Udayakumar to consider him for the Starting 7 plans. The Maharashtrian combatant has been the second-best raider of Tamil Thalaivas so far beside Manjeet. Ajinkya was the top scorer of the Chennai-based franchise’s recent fixture with his former side Jaipur Pink Panthers where he scored 13 raid points in a 34-34 thrilling tie. Interestingly, Thalaivas have two successful super tackles from their last two matches and both attempts were executed by Ajinkya who primarily plays as a raider.
Predicted Starting 7’s
Patna Pirates: Prashanth Kumar Rai (C), Monu Goyat, Sachin Tanwar, Sajin Chandrasekar, Neeraj Kumar, Mohammadreza Shadloui, Sunil Narwal
Tamil Thalaivas: Manjeet Dahiya, Ajinkya Pawar, Sagar Krishna, Surjeet (C), Mohit Jakhar, Sagar Rathee, Sahil Gulia
Prediction
It is really hard to pick a winner from this encounter as both sides are standing on equal odds of winning. Tamil Thalaivas played the most number of tied results this season so far hence just like their previous encounter, there are high chances of another settlement between these two teams.