PKL 9 Day 36 live updates: Bengaluru Bulls vs Gujarat Giants

Puneri Paltan vs Haryana Steelers

Haryana Steelers and Puneri Paltan will play the first match of the Hyderabad leg in Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9. The last time both the teams met in PKL 9, the match ended in a tie. Haryana Steelers did not perform well in the Pune leg as compared to the Bengaluru one. Manjeet Dahiya has been the bright spot in the raiding department scoring Super 10s consistently in the last few encounters along with Jaideep Dahiya in defence.

Puneri Paltan, on the other hand, are just two points away from regaining back the top spot from Bengaluru Bulls. The Paltans made good use of their home support winning four, apart from two defeats and a tie in seven matches. The raiding trio of Akash Shinde, Mohit Goyat, and Aslam Inamdar were the bright spots.

Head-to-Head

Haryana Steelers and Puneri Paltan have faced each other 11 times in the Pro Kabaddi League. The Haryana Steelers have won four matches, whereas Puneri Paltan has come out victorious on six occasions. One match ended in a tie.

Player to watch

Aslam Inamdar is the player to watch out for. He has recently been scoring points in both the raiding and defence sections. In the last encounter against Bengal Warriors, Aslam scored two tackle points and seven raid points. Puneri Paltan now has the luxury of playing with three raiders instead of two with Aslam taking care of the defensive section too which can prove to be vital in the playoff stages.

Manjeet Dahiya will be up against the captain of Puneri Paltan Fazel Athrachali. The primary raider has been the saviour for Haryana Steelers with Meetu not living up to the expectations. Meetu in the initial stages was performing pretty well, but has lost form in the past few matches hurting Haryana badly.

Telugu Titans vs Bengal Warriors

Telugu Titans will have something to rejoice about in Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9 as they will be playing in front of their home fans after a gap of two years. Nothing has gone right for the Southern franchise, who are stuck on nine points in the 14 matches played so far and are out of the playoffs contention race.

Bengal Warriors, on the other hand, are fighting for the playoffs spot and a win against Telugu Titans will make them move upwards in the points table into the playoffs spot. Maninder Singh has been one of the star raiders for Bengal Warriors scoring more than 60 per cent of the overall raid points the franchise has scored. 

Head-to-Head

Telugu Titans and Bengal Warriors have faced 19 other times in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). The Titans have won three matches. In contrast, Bengal Warriors have come out victorious on eight occasions with five games ending in a tie. 

Player to watch

Shrikanth Jadhav will be the player to watch out for Bengal Warriors. He has been performing reasonably well both in the raid and defence sections. Although he hasn’t scored many Super 10s, but has been supporting Maninder Singh as the secondary raider in the past few matches along with helping the defence in tackles.

Telugu Titans’ Siddharth Desai is the lone warrior along with a few spots in the defence from Parvesh Bainswal and Vishal Bharadwaj. Siddharth Desai will be up against Maninder Singh and there will be a race as to who will score more raid points in the match. In the last match, Desai scored 18 points and will look to execute the same against Bengal Warriors.

Gujarat Giants vs Bengaluru Bulls

Bengaluru Bulls will be up against Gujarat Giants in match 86 of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9. This will be their second meeting in the season. In the earlier clash, the Giants beat the Bulls by a 46-44 margin. But since then things have changed dramatically for both sides. The Giants are currently 11th on the points table, while the Bulls are at the top of the table and favourites to qualify for the semi-finals.

Head-to-Head

Bengaluru Bulls and Gujarat Giants have faced each other 10 times in the Pro Kabaddi League. The Bulls have won four matches and Gujarat Giants have come out victorious on other seven occasions with one game ending in a tie.

Player to watch

It is hard to look past Bharat at the moment. He has taken the job of the lead raider and is currently second on the raid points list with 159 raid points in 14 games. He would look to go past Arjun Deswal who leads the list.

Rinku is in fine form and the Giants will hope that he can stabilise the defence and stop the opposition from getting easy raid points. He is currently 5th on the most tackle points list with 38 tackle points from 12 games.