On the second day of the Mumbai leg in Pro Kabaddi League Season 5, the defending champions, Patna Pirates will clash against the Southern force, Tamil Thalaivas at Dome, NSCI.
Both teams are coming into this match on the back of similar results, Patna Pirates drew the game against the Bengal Warriors last night while Tamil Thalaivas settled for a tie in their last encounter against the UP Yoddha.
The Patna Pirates, will yet again play on their main strength which is the attack, spearheaded by the talismanic captain, Pardeep Narwal who will be responsible for the bulk of the scoring. He will be assisted in the attack by the likes of Monu Goyat and Vinod Kumar. The defence of the side will be manned by two local Maharashtra players, Vishal Mane and Sachin Shingade.
They will be supported by Jaideep, who has been quite impressive with the precision and timing of his tackles, and also young gun Satish. The team displayed a dismal performance last night against the Warriors wherein they slumped to a tie despite leading the game by a 15 point margin at one point in time.
On the other hand, the Tamil Thalaivas, led by the tall and lanky raider, Ajay Thakur will be on the hunt for a win against the defending champions in order to move up the ladder on the points table. Ajay leads the attack of the side and has been in stellar form in the last few matches after the slow start initially in the season.
He is assisted by K Prapanjan, Vineet Kumar and D Pradap who may come on as a substitute. The defence of the side is manned by Amit Hooda in one corner, who is lethal with his holds especially the ankle and thigh hold alongside the experienced campaigner, C Arun.
Adding more depth to the side, there is Darshan who has showcased his mettle with key tackles and Anil Kumar who still has to prove his worth.
Patna Pirates vs Tamil Thalaivas match prediction
The Pirates definitely have the upper edge against the young side of the Thalaivas, Pardeep Narwal will probably find it easy to penetrate through the left side of the defence while avoiding the right one manned by Amit Hooda.
The only two things that Patna need to focus on is to keep the likes of Ajay Thakur and Prapanjan at bay, while if they manage to secure a lead, they need to hold on to the same until the very end instead of giving it away like they did in the last match against the Warriors.