Just after a 3-month gap from the previous season of the Pro Kabaddi League, two star-studded teams Bengaluru Bulls and Bengal Warriors will be raring to take on each other on Day 2 of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi Season 4. The match-up will witness a neck-to-neck battle for sure, with both the teams heavily relying on their defensive units.
After a nerve-wracking and exciting auction, the Bulls saw themselves among the news, having roped in defensive lynchpin Mohit Chhillar for a whopping 53 lakh rupees, who also emerged as the costliest player at the end of the auction.
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Having lost key players Manjeet Chhillar, Ajay Thakur and Rajesh Mondal to opposition teams ahead of season 3, the Bulls management were forced to look upon youngsters to deliver, under the leadership of ‘Flying Machine’ Surjeet Narwal.
As the results showed, the move severely backfired on the Bulls, as the team slumped to successive defeats which all added up to the lack of experience amongst Bengaluru’s ranks, which saw them winning just 2 out of 14 matches. This year, the management ensured that mistakes were not to be repeated.
U-Mumba’s defensive duo of Surender Nada and Mohit Chhillar was bought to lead the defense while Rohit Baliyan was roped in to add teeth to the raiding department. Youngsters Pawan Kumar and Ashish Sangwan were retained by the Bulls, to ensure that young blood was still running in the squad.
The Bengal Warriors, on the other hand, will be hoping their skipper Nilesh Shinde, who was retained along with Girish Ernak combine with the rest of the players in their squad to form a human barrier which proved to be quite a handful for oppositions throughout the three seasons of the Pro Kabaddi League.
The Bengal Warriors have grown in strength with their defensive tactics, but this year will be missing the services of Bajirao Hodage, who was instrumental in Bengal’s success last year.
In the auctions, the Warriors picked up ‘Flying Machine’ Surjeet Narwal, who had a below-par season captaining the Bulls last year and it will be a talking point to see how Surjeet plots against the Bulls while combining with Shinde once the men hit the mat.
Adding a menacing factor to the Warriors defence will be Vishal Mane, who had a spectacular season when he sported the U-Mumba jersey last time round. Ravi Dalal is an exciting addition to the Warriors, who can get them some crucial raid points.
After a disastrous third season, the Bengaluru Bulls will look to start fresh and strong under the able assistance of coach Randhir Singh, while the Warriors will look to stop the rampaging bulls with their strong defence.
Match Prediction
With both teams strong on defence, this match is all set to go down to the wire. Bengaluru Bulls will be buoyed by the presence of two new corners, Surender Nada and Mohit Chhillar. Nada and Chhillar have been phenomenal for U-Mumba and will be key players in Bengaluru’s progress this year and will add the required maturity to do well in crunch situations.
Rohit Baliyan will lead the raiding department for the Bulls this year in the absence of Surjeet Narwal, and will have to be at the top of his game to get ahead of the Warriors defence. With the right mix of youth and experience, skipper Nada will be happy and optimistic given his team’s chances to win their first match.
The Warriors, led by the wily Nilesh Shinde will be high on confidence, with the quality of defenders they have on their side. Mahendra Rajput and Jang Kun-Lee will have to combine well with Surjeet Narwal, who hasn’t been in the greatest of touch to score raid points, while Ravi Dalal will be an X-factor.
If players were pitted against each other, then Bengaluru Bulls might just be one step ahead, given the ability of each player on their squad. At the end of this game, the Bulls might just get the better of Warriors by a very thin margin and is the prediction for this game.
Squads
Bengaluru Bulls :
Bengal Warriors :
Raiders : Jang Kun Lee, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput, Surjeet Narwal, Nitin Madane, Ravi Dalal, Shrikant Jadhav, Simon Kibura.
Bengaluru Bulls vs Bengal Warriors Live Match Information
Date : 26/06/2016
Time : 20:00 IST
TV Channels : Star Sports 2/Star Sports 2 HD (English), Star Sports 3/Star Sports 3 HD (Hindi)
Live stream : http://www.starsports.com
