The fourth edition of the Pro Kabaddi league will commence on Saturday at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium in Mumbai. It’s a double-header in Mumbai as the mighty Manjeet Chhillar’s Puneri Paltan start off their campaign against the youthful Telugu Titans in the opening match of the season. The Pune team had little success in the first two seasons of the Pro Kabaddi league by finishing bottom before Manjeet Chillar, the former Bengaluru Bulls Captain changed their fortunes with his all-round performance in season 3. The Titans who finished third in season 2 will hope to improve their consistency in the current season.
The Live Streaming for the game between the Puneri Paltan and Telugu Titans will be available on www.starsports.com from 20:00 IST. The match will be telecasted live from DOME @ NSCI SVP Stadium, Mumbai, and will be aired on Star Sports 2 (HD) in English and Star Sports 3 (HD) in Hindi.
Rahul Chaudhari, the poster boy of Pro Kabaddi has been a successful raider for the Titans in the past three seasons. He has 336 raid points to his name and more importantly he is the only player to secure more than 80 raid points in each of the seasons. The 23-year-old was one of the players to be retained along with the do-or-die specialist Sukesh Hegde.
Also read: Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League 2016: SWOT analysis of Puneri Paltan
Sandeep Narwal the right corner defender, who played a crucial part in Patna’s title-winning campaign last time will be playing for the Titans in season 4. The 23-year-old defender will be a huge boost for the Titans, who mostly rely on their raiders to win a kabaddi match. The team will miss the experienced spearheads Dharmaraj Cheralathan and Meraj Sheykh.
Puneri Paltan had an inconsistent outing in the first two seasons but finished third last time. The side hired a former Bengal raider Nitin Tomar and the experienced Sonu Narwal in their setup. Ravinder Pahal, the former Delhi Captain who was a leading defender in season 2 will be playing under Manjeet Chhillar.
The Pune franchise after retaining Manjeet Chhillar and Deepak Niwas Hooda have done incredibly well at the recently concluded Star Sports Pro Kabaddi auctions in Mumbai. The Paltan look strong and sturdy on paper and surely the betting favourites to win the Pro Kabaddi season 4 edition.
Also read: Telugu Titans' Rahul Chaudhari: "I am very happy with the squad"
Puneri Paltan have the worst head to head record against the Telugu Titans and have been defeated by the Titans in 4 out of 6 occasions.
Puneri Paltan will be playing all their home matches in Mumbai and already 80% of the tickets are sold. It’s going to be a battle of Telugu’s attack vs Pune’s defence. Let’s see who comes out on top.