After the first two eliminators in the Super-Playoffs of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5, the two winners, Puneri Paltan and Patna Pirates will clash against each other tonight for a spot in the second qualifier at the Dome, NSCI in Mumbai.
Puneri Paltan managed to sneak a win by a slender margin of 2 points against UP Yoddha last night while the Pirates completely decimated the Haryana Steelers in the second match.
The head-to-head between these two teams stands in favour of the Puneri Paltan with the Maharashtra team coming out on top in the sole match that was played earlier in the league.
Puneri Paltan put forth a pretty much all-round performance last night with the skipper, Deepak Hooda leading the way with a Super-10 inning. He was well supported by Rajesh Mondal, who picked up 5 points of his own in the attack. In the defence, the duo of Akshay Jadhav and Girish Ernak picked up a High-5 each while Sandeep Narwal contributed to the scoreline with 3 vital tackle points. They will hope that the defence performs, in the same manner, today to keep the rampant pair of Pardeep Narwal and Monu Goyat at bay.
Patna Pirates, on the other hand, were absolutely merciless when it came to the eliminator against the Haryana Steelers, notching up a massive 69-30 win. Pardeep Narwal amassed a record-shattering 34 raid points in a single match which also included an 8-point monster raid. Monu Goyat picked up a Super-10 as well while in the defence, Vijay and Jaideep each picked up a High-5. The likes of Vishal Mane, Sachin Shingade and Jawahar Dagar, however, need to pull up their socks in order to inflict more amount of tackle to keep the Pune raiders at a safe distance even as Pardeep and Monu make it inroads on the other end of the kabaddi mat.
Puneri Paltan vs Patna Pirates match prediction
The advantage does lie in the hands of the defending champions, Patna Pirates given the presence of Pardeep Narwal in their ranks who can single-handedly take the game away from the opposition given his prowess. Pune might have a fighting chance if their defence performs like a well-oiled unit and manages to render Pardeep out of the equation for long spells of time. Then, they can probably rely on their own raiders to take advantage of the weak links in the rival defence.