The second match of the Bengaluru leg of Pro Kabaddi season 4 will see, the Puneri Paltan take on the struggling Bengal Warriors at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. The Puneri Paltan sit third with 4 wins and 2 losses in season 4. The title contenders led by the mighty Manjeet Chhillar looks to move to the top of the table for the second time, in the season, by defeating the underperformers in Tuesday’s encounter.
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Bengal Warriors, on the other hand, need to go back to the drawing board, after repeated failures in the first phase of the season. The Nilesh Shinde led team sit at the bottom of the table with one win and 6 losses. The season 3 semi-finalists were undone by the other teams, in the current season, due to poor defence, and most importantly, the inability of the players to step up in the dying moments of the game.
Match Prediction
The former Bengaluru captain, Manjeet Chhillar will play in front of the rapturous Bengaluru crowd, in today’s encounter. Manjeet had two successful seasons in the Bengaluru colours before moving to Pune in season 3. The 30-year-old all-rounder has been a driving force for the Pune team in season 4, with 23 successful tackles to his name. Manjeet was also awarded the best defender of the match when these two teams faced each other on Saturday.
Whenever Manjeet stays off the mat, Pune suffers an all out instantly. Therefore, the less impressive Bengal attack looks to target the star all-rounder mainly in today’s battle.
The Pune fans are yet to see the best of Ajay Thakur since the exceptional showdown against U Mumba in the opening week. Sonu Narwal’s height and physique would be a huge challenge for the Bengal defence once again. The trio of Deepak Niwas Hudda, Ajay Thakur and Sonu Narwal could inflict serious problems to the Bengal defence. Nitin Tomar will go against his former team for the second time in less than a week.
The Bengal Warriors need to tighten their defence if they want to be successful in today’s battle. One of the strongest defences in Pro Kabaddi have struggled to live up to the expectations in season 4. The corner defenders Nilesh Shinde and Girish Ernak never look threatening to the attackers. Vishal Mane is yet to prove his potential in the new colours, as the former U Mumba defender has just 10 successful tackles in 7 matches so far. It’s high time for the defence to showcase their strengths today.
Nitin Madane’s super ten, against the Puneri Paltan on Saturday is the only positive for the Bengal Warriors heading into today’s encounter. Jang Kun Lee’s uninspired performances due to injury add more fuel to the fire in the Bengal campaign.
After starting the season on the bright note, Monu Goyat’s attacking instinct has dwindled in the last three matches. Goyat along with Ravi Dalal should battle it out against the dangerous looking Partnership of Manjeet Chillar and Ravindra Pahal.
Nitin Madane was charging the right corner against the Paltan in the previous clash as he looks to target the right corner defender Ravindra Pahal. The first half lead is very important for the Warriors to impose an upset in today’s battle.
The head to head stands 4-4, with the Paltan beating the Warriors in the last two encounters.
The season 4 edition of Pro Kabaddi is filled with a lot of twists and turns as Patna’s Successful run was ended by Dabang Delhi. Therefore, it’s very difficult to predict the winner but unless Nilesh Shinde and Bengal defence come up with something extraordinary, it’s just another cakewalk for Pune
Squads
Puneri Paltan
Defenders: I Ketut Ariana, Gurpreet Singh, Somvir Shekhar, Ravinder Pahal, Joginder Narwal, Khomsan Thongkham, Virender Chhillar
All-rounders: Parmod Narwal, Preetam Chhillar, Manjeet Chhillar, Dalbir, Deepak Niwas Hooda
Raider: Ajay Thakur, Sonu Narwal, Jay Bahadur Bohara, Anil Shriram Nimbolkar, Akshay Jadhav
Bengal Warriors
Defenders: Nilesh Shinde, Girish Ernak, Amit Singh Chhillar, Vishal Mane, Chaminda R.S.M, C.Arun, Ravi Kumar, Sushil Vijay Bhosle
All-rounders: Suyog Rajapkar, Yogesh Subhash Sawant
Raiders: Simon Kibura, Jang Kun Lee, Nitin Mandane, Surjeet Narwal, Ravi Dalal, Shrikant Jadhav, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput, Ravindra Ramesh Kumavat
Puneri Paltan vs Bengal Warriors Live Match Information
Date: 12/07/2016
Time: 21:00 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
