PKL 9: Haryana Steelers look to overcome slump against Gujarat Giants

The team from the north are coming off two back-to-back heartbreaking losses.

Gujarat Giants won a high-scoring encounter against UP Yoddhas on the back of impressive performances from their raiders in PKL 9. While Haryana Steelers played a close encounter against U Mumba on Friday where they lost by just a point, 32-31. The Giants currently sit sixth on the points table and they would be looking to win this game to further boost their position in the top 6. While the Steelers are in the bottom half of the table.

Team News

Haryana Steelers

Raiders: Prapanjan, Rakesh Narwal, Manjeet, Vinay, Mohammad Mahalli, Lovepreet Singh, Sushil, Meetu, Manish Gulia

All-Rounders: Nitin Rawal

Defenders: Joginder Narwal, Jaideep, Mohit, Ankit, Monu, Naveen, Harsh, Sunny, Amirhossein Bastami.

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

Head to head

Gujarat Giants and Haryana Steelers have met ten times in Pro Kabaddi. Gujarat Giants have won three of these ten games, while Haryana Steelers have won six of them. One match ended in a tie.

Players to watch

Chandran Ranjith took 18 raid points in the last game and it was a welcome sign for the Giants who were solely dependent on HS Rakesh up until then. The Gujarat captain would be under the spotlight once again and would be expected to lead from the front.

Meetu has been impressive for the Steelers in the last couple of games so he would be expected to provide valuable support to Manjeet in the raiding department.

Key to success

Haryana Steelers' defence was lacklustre in their last game against U Mumba so they would hope to get it right against the Giants. Nitin Rawal has been the stand-out performer in defence while Jaideep who had a great last season has struggled for consistency in PKL season 9, so Manpreet Singh would hope that his defence can have a good game.

For the Giants, it is simple, if both Chandran Ranjith and HS Rakesh both perform then they should be able to win the game.

Did you know

Manjeet of Haryana Steelers played under Ram Mehar Singh's guidance in Patna Pirates in season 6. Now Ram Mehar Singh is the head coach of Gujarat Giants.

Broadcast - PKL 9

Time: 09:30 PM

Streaming: Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar