Defending champions, Patna Pirates will take on the Telugu Titans, in Match 53 of Pro Kabaddi League Season 4. The match takes place at Thyagaraj Sports Complex, in the capital city.
Patna Pirates have been exceptional and look set to retain their title. The Pirates will end as group stage toppers, irrespective of whether they win or loss, in today’s match. They are 5 points clear at the top of the table to the Patna Pirates, who have already completed their quota of group stage matches.
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Telugu Titans are 3rd in the group table, and they cannot drop below that even if they lose today. This means that the Titans have sealed their semis spot, with 7 wins from 13 matches.
Patna Pirates performance so far
Patna Pirates inflicted a heart-breaking loss on the home side, Dabang Delhi, as they sealed a close victory. Meraj Sheykh was exceptional in this all-important match and led the Dabangs from the front. The match was intense with Patna opening the scoring, but Delhi came back hard through Kashiling Adake and Selvamani K. The defending champions did not lay low, and Pardeep Narwal was sensational, once again. Adake and Sheykh combined to take Narwal down on a super tackle, to give Delhi a 16-14 halftime lead.
Meraj Sheykh really rose to the occasion in front of Delhi’s loud home crowd and produced super raids to give Delhi a 21-19 lead. Delhi was close to an All Out when Adake and Sheykh combined to produce a brilliant tackle on Pardeep Narwal. Narwal took his revenge sometime later by inflicting the first all-out to give Delhi a 26-25 lead. Adake kept Delhi in the game with a super raid, but the defending champions proved their worth as one as they heroically held on to a one-point lead to win 32-31.
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There is no adjective to describe Pardeep Narwal’s performance in Season 4. The stats speaks for itself- Narwal has 105 raids points this season, only second to Rahul Chaudhuri’s 108. Narwal has destroyed defences and no defence has been capable of stopping him, yet. The 19-year old will face a tough battle against Vinod and Dhull.
Rajesh Mondal has been second fiddle to Narwal, with 49 raid points. He’s been fairly efficient with his raiding duties, and his experience will count for a lot in the knockout stages.
Patna Pirates’ defense has been top-notch, and not many raiders have had an answer to the trio of Fazel Atrachali, Dharmaraj Cheralathan and Kuldeep Singh. The defenders have 35, 29 and 23 successful tackle points to their credit in Season 4.
Telugu Titans performance so far
The Telugu Titans are fresh from a brilliant win against Season 1 champs, Jaipur Pink Panthers, to seal a semis spot. Pink Panthers had already qualified and rested the likes of Jasvir Singh and Shabeer Bapu.
Rahul Chaudhuri got Telugu off to a good start, and the absence of key Jaipur players aided Telugu’s cause in this match. The Titans inflicted an All Out soon, to lead 17-10 at halftime.
Rahul Chaudhuri’s performance in the second half proved why he is the best raider in the history of Pro Kabaddi. He inflicted the second all out, and the Titans kept on piling up the pressure. Pink Panthers tried really hard to stage a comeback, but it was a bit too late, as the Titans won 35-23.
Rahul Chaudhuri has once again shown why he’s the best raider at Pro Kabaddi, ever. He has 108 raid points to his name, including 5 Super 10’s. He will be crucial against a strong Pirates defence, but the skipper might just sit this out.
Sukesh Hedge and Nilesh Salunke haven’t been too impressive, and they’ll look to get a good run out on the mat, leading into the semis.
Telugu Titans’ revelation this season have been their young defenders, Vinod and Sandeep Dhull. The young sensations have 30 and 32 raid points, respectively. Along with Sandeep Narwal at 34 raid points, the Titans have a tough defence to penetrate.
Match Prediction
Although both the teams have already secured a spot in the top 4, they will look to enter the knockout phase of Season 4, with a win. The battle of Pardeep Narwal vs Rahul Chaudhuri-the two best raiders this season will be an intriguing battle to watch out for.
Both the teams are in a brilliant form going into their last match of the group stages, and a win will give them a lot of confidence in their semis.
The teams are equally strong, but Patna will hold the edge over high-flying Telugu Titans.
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
Telugu Titans
Defenders: Vinod Kumar, Sandeep Dhull,
All-rounders: Jasmer Singh Gulia, Rupesh Tomar, Sandeep Narwal, Mohammad Maghsoudlou, Shashank Wankhede, Aklhaq Hussain, Muhammed Rizwan, Sagar B. Krishna, Vishal Bhardwaj
Raiders: Vinoth Kumar, K.Prapanjan, Nilesh Salunke. Rahul Chaudhary, Sukesh Hegde, Sombir, Athul MS
Patna Pirates vs Telugu Titans Live Match Information
Date: 26/07/2016
Time: 20:00 IST
Venue: Thyagaraj Sports Complex, Delhi
TV Channels: Star Sports 2/Star Sports 2 HD (English), Star Sports 3/Star Sports 3 HD (Hindi)
