PKL 9: Gujarat Giants bank on Rakesh to gain momentum against Patna Pirates

The raider has the second-highest raids and most successful raids points this season.

Patna Pirates are back to winning ways after beating UP Yoddhas (34-29) in their first match of the Pune leg in Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9. Sachin Tawar after a below-par season has started to show his original form scoring 11 points with Rohit Gulia providing a good supporting role.

On the other hand, Gujarat Giants won their last encounter against Telugu Titans comfortably (30-19) and are now currently placed in sixth place with 24 points in the points table. The defence played a massive role in Gujarat’s win in the last match with Sourav Gulia continuing his good form scoring a high-five. Rinku Narwal also scored four crucial tackle points with the raiders having an off day.

Team News

Gujarat Giants

Raiders: Chandran Ranjit, Mahendra Rajput, Dong Geon Lee, Purna Singh, Sonu, Pardeep Kumar, Rakesh, Gaurav Chhikara, Sohit, Sonu Singh, Sawin

All-Rounders: Arkam Shaikh, Parteek Dhaiya, Rohan Singh, Shankar Gadai

Defenders: Vinod Kumar, Young Chang Ko, Rinku Narwal, Baldev Singh, Sourav Gulia, Sandeep Kandola, Manuj, Kapil, Ujjval Singh

Patna Pirates

Raiders: Sachin, Monu, Anand Tomar, Sushil Gulia, Vishwas S, Rohit, Ranjit Naik, Anuj Kumar

Defenders: Neeraj Kumar, Sunil, Thiyagarajan Yuvaraj, Manish, Shivam Chaudhary, Naveen Sharma

All-Rounder: Rohit Gulia, Sajin C, Sager Kumar, Abdul Insamam, Mohammadreza Chiyaneh, Daniel Odhiambo

Head-to-Head

Gujarat Giants and Patna Pirates have faced each other nine times in the Pro Kabaddi League out of which, Gujarat Giants have won five whereas Patna has come out victorious on other four occasions.

Player to watch

Sourav Gulia has scored 24 tackle points in eight matches and is presently placed in the top 10 in the tackle points section. Also, the total number of successful tackles (24) places him in the top five showing good consistency throughout the league. Sourav will be up against Rohit Gulia and Sachin who are presently in good form.

Rohit Gulia will be up against his former franchise Gujarat Giants. The all-rounder has shown good promise taking crucial bonus points and at times tackle points as well. Rohit can be of great support to Sachin by sharing the total number of raids equivalently.

Key to Success

Patna Pirates needs to tighten up the defence against Gujarat Giants. Rakesh Kumar single-handedly can win the match considering his present form and Mohammed Chiyaneh will need to stop the raider from scoring efficiently. The battle will be between Rakesh and Chiyaneh and if Rakesh fails Patna will hold a slight advantage.

Chandran Ranjith apart from a few good matches playing the supporting raider role has not had a good season. The captain along with Parteek Dahiya will play a major role if Rakesh doesn't succeed against Patna Pirates' defence.

Did you know

Prasanth Kumar Rai recently reached the 500 raid points mark in his 123rd match in the Pro Kabaddi League. Overall Rai has scored 510 points, with ten points scored in defence.

Broadcast - PKL 9

Time - 07:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar