India take on Bangladesh in perhaps the most important clash of their remaining group fixtures in the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup, which has been a mixed bag for the host nation till now. The Men in Blue are second on the Group A points table behind South Korea, who have won both their games, including the one against India. Bangladesh, on the other hand, have played only one game till now and won that quite comfortably.
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The 2016 Kabaddi World Cup has seen a lot of one-sided matches but this clash will surely not be one of those, given the strength of the Bangladesh team. Playing their first game against England, Bangladesh were relentless and smashed the English to bits and pieces, dominating the game from start to the end. Md. Aruduzzaman Munshi was the destroyer-in-chief versus England and accumulated 8 raid points. India will need to be wary of the Bangaldeshi raider.
India, on the other hand, have not hit top gear yet, which could be a good thing if they manage to reach the knock-outs without doing so. Anup Kumar and Manjeet Chhillar, by far, have been the best players for India in attack and defence, respectively. Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sandeep Narwal, who were drafted into the starting line-ups for the second game against Australia, proved to be good picks.
It is quite surprising as to how none of India’s raiders are in the top ten list for successful raids and raid points despite playing two games. One reason for this could be the fact that none of Rahul Chaudhari, Pardeep Narwal and Ajay Thakur have been given multiple raids in succession. In fact, the raids were quite evenly distributed between all players, be it defenders, all-rounders or raiders.
The fact that England managed to beat Australia by a bigger margin that India did tells a lot about how the host nation has not played anything close to its best kabaddi till now. Bangladesh will pose an even bigger challenge for India and a win cannot be assured at all. India will need to bring its A game to the mat and play more on the offensive as compared to the previous two games. Anup Kumar, Rahul Chaudhari and Pardeep Narwal will need to score against a tight Bangladesh defence and India need to avoid playing on the do or die raid too often.
Match Prediction
In a lot of ways, this contest will be about how India matches the aggression of Bangladesh and stops their incredibly athletic neighbours from scoring freely. Bangladesh, as they showed in the first match, are likely to take the game to India and try to stifle their opponents by scoring in bulk. However, the presence of Manjeet Chhillar, Sandeep Narwal and Deepak Niwas Hooda will be a big hurdle for them.
India, on the other hand, need to do more than just turning up for the match. For some odd reason, they have not enjoyed playing the first two matches and have looked quite pensive. Being pensive and nervous will do nothing but induce errors from a bunch that is to Kabaddi what the 1992 USA team was to basketball. Rahul Chaudhari, India’s poster boy and by far their best raider, will be looking to produce a match winning performance and he just might.
Verdict: India to beat Bangladesh in a close contest
Match Info
Venue: The Arena by TransStadia, Ahmedabad
Time: 21:00 IST
Live Telecast: Star Sports 2, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD2, Star Sports HD3, Hotstar
Squads
India: Anup Kumar (Captain), Rahul Chaudhari, Manjeet Chhillar, Jasvir Singh, Deepak Niwas Hooda, Pardeep Narwal, Mohit Chhillar, Surender Nada, Surjeet, Ajay Thakur, Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Kiran Parmar, Nitin Tomar, Sandeep Narwal
Bangladesh: Md. Aruduzzaman Munshi (Captain), Md. Romanuzzaman, S. M. Al Mamun, Mohammad Shazid Hossain, Sulieman Kabir, Mohammad Tanjil Hossain, Md. Ferdous Sheikh, Md. Ruhul Amin, Md. Sabuj Mia, Md. Ziaur Rahman, Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Md. Jahangir Alam, Mohammad Tuhin Tarafder, Md. Zakir Hossain
