Succumbing to a loss against an upbeat Telugu Titans line-up, the Bengaluru Bulls will face off against a Jasvir Singh led Jaipur Pink Panthers, who will be on a high after getting the better of Patna Pirates and will look to occupy the top spot on the points table of Pro Kabaddi Season 4 2016 with a win.
Emerging victorious from their bout against the Patna Pirates, the Jaipur Pink Panthers are sitting pretty in the second position on the points table with four wins and a tie from their seven games while Bengaluru Bulls are flirting with danger, with just the three wins from their eight kabaddi games.
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Confidence and teamwork will be two major deciding factors when the Bulls face the Panthers. The Bulls will be low on confidence, having registered a hat-trick of losses owing to their inability to convert opportunities given to them from their previous games. Jaipur Pink Panthers will look to hand the Bulls their fourth consecutive loss and will be high on confidence with two wins on the trot.
Bengaluru Bulls performance so far
After a rollicking start to their campaign with a win, the Bengaluru Bulls have presented disappointing performances from their previous games.Rohit Kumar has been sensational this season with 50 points from his eight games, while Mohit Chhillar, after initial outbursts from the first few games has presented a pale shadow of himself.
In their first match, the Bulls hung on splendidly well at the back of Rohit Kumar and Mohit Chhillar’s performances to emerge victorious out of a cliffhanger. After some silly mistakes saw the Panthers eke out a tie in the last minute, they faced Dabang Delhi, who handed the Bulls their first loss this season. Coming back from the loss, the Bulls registered two consecutive wins against the Puneri Paltans and the Telugu Titans, but were brought back on the ground by Patna Pirates.
Pitted against their former captain Anup Kumar, Bengaluru’s defence pillars Mohit Chhillar and Surender Nada had to be on the top of their game. It was not to be, as the Bulls could not cling onto the massive lead they had while helping U-Mumba make a stunning comeback in the second half to cling on and register yet another famous win.
Playing their first match on their home mat, the Bulls made a mess out of their plans, often gifting easy points to the Titans raiders. Mohit Chhilar, currently the top defender of PKL Season 4 was kept quiet by the Titans raiders which meant he could not dish out a single point from the Southern Derby. Ashish Sangwan was the only bright spot amongst the defenders, with even Surender Nada unable to bring down the Titans.
Jaipur Pink Panthers performance so far
The Pink Panthers have been ably led by Jasvir Singh, who also leads the raid points tally for the Abhishek Bachchan- owned side. Shabeer Bapu has emerged as a wonderful buy in the auction, often bringing home raid points to his name in the crunch situations and also is surprisingly placed second on the super tackles tally.
Rajesh Narwal has played second fiddle to Jasvir Singh supremely well, while also winning his team matches single-handedly on many occasions. At times when Shabeer Bapu and Jasvir Singh have not been able to deliver, the all-rounder has stepped up to the plate and delivered the goods in both departments.
The Panthers did not get off to a great start, losing to U-Mumba in their opening bout. With a win over the Titans and a tie against the Bulls, the Panthers made short work of the Bengal Warriors but were handed their second loss by the Puneri Paltans. Since then, the Panthers have left no stone unturned. After demolishing Dabang Delhi by a massive margin of 25 points with Rajesh Narwal playing the role of wrecker-in-chief , they continued their good run to upstage the Patna Pirates.
Match Prediction
With two wins from two games, the Panthers are favourites to grab victory from this encounter. Retained players Jasvir Singh and Rajesh Narwal have made their mark in the tournament, while Shabeer Bapu has been a major contributor to Jaipur’s success, and the onus will be on Mohit Chhillar and Surender Nada to stop the trio.
Rohit Kumar has been a force to reckon with and will be the X-factor going into this game. 50 points from 8 games, the MVP from season 3 has yet again made his mark this season. Pawan Kadian, who was bought in the auction has had a successful couple of games and his form will be crucial to complement Rohit Kumar.
Rajesh Narwal will be the X-factor from the Panthers perspective, and how he reads the situation to make the most of it will be key. Shabeer Bapu, who once played alongside Mohit Chhillar and Surender Nada will look to go one up against both his ex-teammates, while the duo will be eager to bring down Shabeer.
Squads
Bengaluru Bulls
Raiders : Amit Rathi, Deepak Kumar Dahiya, Rohit Baliyan, Harish Naik, Pawan Kumar, Rohit Kumar, Pawan Kumar, Sinotharan Kanesharajah, Sumit Singh, Vinod Kumar.
Defenders : Surender Nada (Captain), Mohit Chhillar, Ashish Sangwan, Jeeva Gopal, Manoj Kumar, Yogesh Hooda, Rahul Kumar, Nicholas George Mottaram, Ajay Singh.
All-Rounders : Sanjay Shrestha.
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Raiders: Jasvir Singh (Captain), Shabeer Bapu, Ajay Kumar, Lo Chia Wei, Mahipal Narwal, Tushar Patil, Amit Nagar.
Defenders: Amit Hooda, Rohit Rana, Parveen Narwal, Jawahar.
All-Rounders: Ran Singh, Rajesh Narwal, Shrikant Tewthia, Kazuhiro Takano, Parvesh Bhainswal, Tae Deok Eom.
Bengaluru Bulls vs Jaipur Pink Panthers Live Match Information
Date: 13/07/2016
Time: 20:00 IST
Venue: Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru
TV Channels: Star Sports 2/Star Sports 2 HD (English), Star Sports 3/Star Sports 3 HD (Hindi)
Live stream: http://www.starsports.com
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Raiders: Jasvir Singh (Captain), Shabeer Bapu, Ajay Kumar, Lo Chia Wei, Mahipal Narwal, Tushar Patil, Amit Nagar.
Defenders: Amit Hooda, Rohit Rana, Parveen Narwal, Jawahar.
All-Rounders: Ran Singh, Rajesh Narwal, Shrikant Tewthia, Kazuhiro Takano, Parvesh Bhainswal, Tae Deok Eom.
