PKL 9: Bengaluru Bulls to lock horns with Bengal Warriors

Bharat will try to retain his top spot in the raiding chart.

Bengal Warriors missed out on an opportunity of winning against Tamil Thalaivas in the last encounter (30-35) in a close battle. Maninder Singh got tackled in the super tackle situation with a minute left in the clock and the next raid from Tamil Thalaivas was a do-or-die raid which Maninder Singh should have calculated but missed out.

Bengaluru Bulls lost a close battle to Puneri Paltan in the last encounter(33-35). The winner could only be known after the last raid of the match and both teams were fighting for the top spot of PKL 9. The right corner defender in the last raid left open space for the raider to score bonus points helping Pune will the match. 

Team News

Bengaluru Bulls

Raiders: Vikash Kandola, More G B, Lala Mohar Yadav, Neeraj Narwal, Harmanjit Singh, Bharat, Nageshor Tharu

Defenders: Mahender Singh(c), Saurabh Nandal, Mayur Kadam, Sudhakar Krishant, Rohit Kumar, Vinod Naik, Aman, Rajnesh, Yash Hooda

All-Rounders: Sachin Narwal, Rahul Khatik

Bengal Warriors

Raiders: Maninder Singh (c), Shrikant Jadhav, Akash Pikalmunde, Suyog Gaikar, R Guhan, Parshant Kumar, Aslam Thambi,

Defenders: Girish Maruti Ernak,  Surender Nada, Amit Sheoran, Parveen Satpal, Shubham Shinde, Sakthivel R, Soleiman Pahlevani, Vaibhav Garje,

All-Rounders: Deepak Hooda, Ashish Sangwan, Vinod Kumar, Ajinkya Kapre, Rohit, Manoj Gowda, Balaji D

Head to Head

Bengaluru Bulls and Bengal Warriors have faced 19 other times in the Pro Kabaddi League out of which Bengal Warriors have won ten matches whereas Bengaluru Bulls have come out victorious on other nine occasions. 

Player to watch

Neeraj Narwal scored ten points in the last encounter against Puneri Paltan and also scored more points than Bharat proving his name in the team. Along with scoring raid points, the raider also put in a super tackle which helped Bengaluru Bulls to avoid an all-out. Neeraj along with Bharat will be vital against the veteran Surendar Nada.

Surender Nada in the left corner has played very well after his inclusion in the place of Girish Maruthi Ernak. In the limited opportunities, the left corner defender has proved to be good and will be up against two quality raiders, Neeraj and Bharat who have been vital for Bengaluru Bulls' success.

Key to Success

Bengal Warriors need to get their tactics right in pressure situations and coach K.Baskaran shall give them the instructions during timeouts. Gowda in the last encounter performed well as a raider in tough situations and against Bengaluru Bulls can be brought in the playing 7 instead of Deepak Niwas Hooda who hasn't looked threatening as an all-rounder.

The corner duo need to get strong and avoid giving Maninder Singh the bonus points. In the last encounter against Tamil Thalaivas, Maninder Singh scored six bonus points which were almost half the raid points he scored which can prove to be vital in the end. Bengaluru Bulls need to combine together to tackle Maninder else it shall end up in a multi-point raid.

Did you know

Vikash Kandola of Bengaluru Bulls has breached the 700 points (raiding + defence) mark in the Pro Kabaddi League.

Broadcast

Time - 08:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar