The final match of the Patna leg will see, Patna Pirates take on season 1 champions Jaipur Pink Panthers at the Patliputra Sports Complex on Sunday. The Patna Pirates want to get back to winning ways, after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Dabang Delhi in Saturday's Pro Kabaddi league season 4 encounter. The home fans are really outraged by yesterday’s result, and the team hopes to put a strong show against the formidable Jaipur side.
The Pink Panthers, on the other hand, sit in fourth position with 3 wins and 2 losses. The Abhishek Bachchan owned team looks rock solid in both attack and defence heading into today’s battle against the defending champions. Moreover, the Pink Panthers put their campaign back on track with a huge win against the Dabang Delhi. A victory in today’s match would put them back at the top of the table.
Match Prediction
The defending champions Patna Pirates had a great run in the Pro Kabaddi season 4 before they were outclassed by the Dabang Delhi. The team endured the most embarrassing defeat in the Pro Kabaddi league by scoring just 16 points, the lowest by any team in the past three seasons.
The in-form Patna attack was completely taken over by the Delhi defence led by Sachin Shingade. Pardeep Narwal, who had 55 raid points before the match, had scored just 2 points in the entire match and moreover, the 19-year-old spent more than 25 minutes off the mat. Pardeep will have a tough task in his hand in today’s encounter against the dangerous-looking partnership of Amit Hooda and Rajesh Narwal.
The painful defeat also puts a huge question mark on Patna’s defence, especially, Dharamaraj Cheralathan who looked insecure against Delhi’s attack. The mislead tackles from the 41-year-old defender settled the match in Delhi’s favour. Both Cheralathan and Fazel Atrachali faces a stern test against the impeccable Rajesh Narwal .
The Pink Panthers look to add more misery to the Patna fans by defeating the home team on Sunday. The attacking force of Jasvir Singh, Rajesh Narwal and Shabeer Bapu should come good, to overcome the Patna threat. Rajesh Narwal, who had 12 raid points against Dabang Delhi is surely the player to watch out for in today’s mouth-watering contest. The star player brings a lot of value to the Jaipur set-up, and whenever the team found it difficult in the dying moments, Rajesh has bailed them out.
Jasvir Singh, who was hit on the forehead against Dabang Delhi is likely to be fit for the game. Jaipur's best signing of the season, Shabeer Bapu, has excelled in the new colours with his destructive raids in the crunch situations. He could inflict serious problems to the corner defenders.
Amit Hooda was stupendous against the Dabang Delhi with 7 tackle points. The right corner defender has made a huge impact in season 4, in dealing the powerful raiders. Pardeep Narwal’s strong tricks and turns will test the corner defenders Ran Singh and Amit Hooda.
The rivalry between Patna and Jaipur has produced intriguing battles in the past. The head to head stands 5-2 in favour of Pirates and moreover, the Pink Panthers never defeated the Pirates, since the semi-final in season 1.
It’s interesting battle, to say the least, as both teams are well built in attack and defence. The tricky contest will be decided by narrow margins, may be one point, but I go with the Panthers considering their dominance and more importantly, it’s difficult for the Pirates to come back straightaway.after the major setback.
Squads
Patna Pirates
Defenders: Dharmraj Cheralathan, Bajirao Hodage, Deepak Dhull, Vijin Thangadurai, Fazel Atrachali, Abolfazel Maghsodlo, Sunny, Sunil Kumar
All-rounders: Sanjay Kumar, Hadi Oshtorak, Kuldeep Singh
Raider: Mahesh Goud, Pardeep Narwal, Rajesh Mondal, Vinoth Paulyas
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Defenders: Wei Yang, Rohit Rana, Amit Hooda,
All-rounders: Rajesh Narwal, Shrikant Tewathia, Ran Singh, Parvesh Bhainswal, Parween Narwal
Raiders: Jasvir Singh, Masayuki Shimokava, Mahipal Narwal, Shabeer Bappu, Lo Chia Wei, Tushar Patil, Amit Nagar
Patna Pirates vs Dabang Delhi Live Match Information
Date: 10/07/2016
Time: 21:00 IST
Venue: Patliputra Sports Complex, Patna.
TV Channels: Star Sports 2/Star Sports 2 HD (English), Star Sports 3/Star Sports 3 HD (Hindi)
Live stream: http://www.starsports.com