PKL 9 Day 20 Live Updates: Tamil Thalaivas Vs Dabang Delhi

07:30 PM: Hello and welcome to Khel Now’s live update of Day 20 of PKL season 9.

Jaipur Pink Panthers Vs Bengaluru Bulls

Jaipur Pink Panthers were beaten by lower-ranked Tamil Thalaivas (27-38) a shock defeat in the first encounter of the Pune leg. The Panthers did not start with Arjun Deshwal which might be a tactical move but that did not pay off with Jaipur losing all the momentum in the first half itself. Sunil Kumar the captain looked couldn’t redefine his old form. Jaipur Pink Panthers will next face an in-form Bengaluru Bulls in PKL 9.

Bengaluru Bulls won a close and high-scoring encounter against Dabang Delhi KC (47-44). Bharat was the star of the show scoring 20 raid points and also his 5th super ten of season 9. Saurabh Nandal in defence played an important role scoring a high 5.

Key to Success

Jaipur Pink Panthers raiding apart from Arjun Deshwal hasn’t fired yet in the first eight games which is hurting them. Both Ajith and Rahul Chaudhari were substituted after starting the match in the last encounter but couldn’t score much. Arjun Deshwal showed some respite in the second half scoring nine points. For Jaipur to win and get to the playoffs either Ajith or Rahul Chaudhari needs to score consistently.

The raiding department has been the key to success and Bharat has played a massive role in Bengaluru Bulls performing well in season 9. Vikash Kandola has not had the best start to the season and in the last game could score only four raid points whereas Bharat scored 20. Randhir Singh Sehrawat needs to mould Vikash Kandola soon.

Tamil Thalaivas Vs Dabang Delhi

Tamil Thalaivas bounced back strongly after the Bengaluru leg won against a top side Jaipur Pink Panthers (38-27). Ajinkya Pawar had a good game and is slowly getting back to his original form helping Narendra Kandola in the raiding department. Narendra Kandola scored yet another super 10 and is turning out to be a bright star in the Pro Kabaddi league. Tamil Thalaivas will next play Dabang Delhi in PKL 9.

Dabang Delhi KC after winning five successive encounters has lost the next three encounters displacing them from the top spot. Ashu Mallik in the past few games has given good support to Naveen Kumar who scored his 8th consecutive super 10 in the last game against Bengaluru Bulls.

Key to Success

Dabang Delhi KC’s defence has been poor in the last few encounters of PKL 9. Krishan Dhull and Ravi were outstanding in the initial games but in the latter stages of the Pune leg, their performances started to dip which is evident in the results. In the last game against Bengaluru Bulls, all the defenders were poor impacting the team’s performance. Krishan shall be careful about Narender’s threat and shall make him sit on the bench for a longer time.  

Naveen Kumar and Ashu Malik will be up against Tamil Thalaiva’s best corner defenders Sahil Gulia and Sagar. These two defenders have been performing well for the past few games and will play a massive role in controlling the flow of the game. Mohit Chillar in the cover region needs to be attentive and reduce the unsuccessful tackle rate.