PKL 9: Tamil Thalaivas seek points against shaken Jaipur Pink Panthers

The team at the bottom of the table looks to continue missing Pawan Sehrawat.

Tamil Thalaivas will next play Jaipur Pink Panthers in PKL 9. Both teams will be playing the opening match in the Pune Leg of Pro Kabaddi League PKL season 9. Tamil Thalaivas has started the season on a poor note winning only a single match out of the six matches. The southern team lost the last encounter against UP Yoddhas of the Bengaluru leg by a 17 points margin (41-24). Ashan Kumar will be taking over the team from the previous coach Udhay Kumar.

Jaipur Pink Panthers on the other hand has won five successive matches after losing the opening match occupying the second spot in the points table with 26 points and is just one point short of the top spot. Like Tamil Thalaivas, Jaipur has ended the Pune leg on a losing note and will look to start fresh in the second leg.

Team News

Tamil Thalaivas

Raiders: Pawan Sehrawat, Ajinkya Ashok Pawar, Himanshu Kandola, Jatin, Himanshu

All-Rounders: Thanushan Laxmamohan, Visvanath V, K Abhimanyu

Defenders: Sagar, Sahil, M Abishek, Mohit, Himanshu, Ashish, Md Arif Rabbani, Arpit Saroha, Ankit

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Raiders: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Deshwal, Devank, Rahul Chaudhari, Nitin Panwar, Navneet, Bhavani Rajput

All-Rounder: Rahul Gorakh Dhanawade 

Defenders: Sunil Kumar, Abhishek KS, Ashish, Ankush, Sahul Kumar, Deepak, Woosan KO, Lucky Sharma, Reza Mirbagheri, Nitin Chandel

Head to Head

Jaipur Pink Panthers and Tamil Thalaivas have faced each other six times in the Pro Kabaddi League out of which, Jaipur Pink Panthers have won three whereas Tamil Thalaivas have come out victorious on only one occasion with two matches ending in a tie.

Player to watch

Sunil Kumar after showing good dominance in the cover region in the Bengaluru leg of PKL 9 will look to continue the same in the Pune leg. Tamil Thalaivas has many inexperienced and young raiders and Sunil Kumar here will play a major role in Jaipur winning the match. In the seven matches, the captain has scored 25 tackle points in seven points and occupies the top spot in the defender's section.

The corner combo of Sahil and Sagar will play a huge role in silencing Arjun Deshwal and if the defence succeeds then Jaipur can stumble in a pressure situation. Sahil has also been involved in a few unnecessary tackles which need to be reduced for Tamil Thalaivas to win against Jaipur Pink Panthers.

Key to Success

The raiding department is putting up a promising show but has lacked aggressiveness whereas, on the other hand, the defence section has shown inconsistency with only Sagar scoring tackle points on a constant basis. Mohit and Abhishek started in the majority of the matches but have put in many unsuccessful tackles. Sagar and Sahil Gulia the corner duo need to control the other defenders to perform better.

The secondary raiders have been a cause of concern for the Jaipur Pink Panthers with Arjun Deshwal doing the bulk of the scoring. Both Rahul Chaudhari and Ajith Kumar need to step up and help Arjun Deshwal revive. Two out of the top five defenders are from Jaipur Pink Panthers showing good signs in defence.

Did you know?

Both the matches played in season 8 between Tamil Thalaivas and Jaipur Pink Panthers ended in a tie with scores (31-31) and (34-34).  

Broadcast - PKL 9

Time - 07:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar