PKL 9: Struggling Gujarat Giants will look at misfiring Rakesh for win against Haryana Steelers

The raider has just one Super 10 in his previous four games and has been going through a dry run of form.

Gujarat Giants were totally decimated by Bengal Warriors in the last encounter losing by a 19-point margin (27-46). Partheek Dahiya their star raider for the past few matches did not play the entire match and it was Chandran Ranjith who scored the bulk of the points in raiding. Rakesh Kumar who started the season on a great note has slowly started losing pace. Gujarat Giants will next play Haryana Steelers in a PKL 9 game.

Haryana Steelers like the opponents Gujarat Giants are coming off a loss in the last encounter against UP Yoddhas (31-40). Haryana Steelers has not looked good in the Pune leg with the defenders showing poor consistency. Manjeet Dahiya in raiding has lived up to the expectations and is leading the team from the front.

Team News

Gujarat Giants

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

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

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

Haryana Steelers

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

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

All-Rounder: Nitin Rawal

Head to Head

Haryana Steelers and Gujarat Giants have faced each other 11 times in the Pro Kabaddi League out of which, Haryana Steelers have won six matches whereas Gujarat Giants have come out victorious on four occasions with one match ending in a tie.

Player to watch

The cover duo of Jaideep and Mohit Nandal were scoring points consistently at the start of the season but as the season has gone by the pair has looked highly inconsistent hurting Haryana Steelers badly. With Rakesh not at his peak, the duo can use this opportunity and get back to form and grow their confidence going forward.

Chandran Ranjith the captain has been the tertiary raider for Gujarat Giants when both Rakesh Kumar and Partheek are in the playing 7. The experienced raider showed his class and experience in the last encounter and shall add value to the raiding department if one of their main raiders is out of form and take additional responsibility.

Key to Success

The defence of Gujarat Giants after the injury to Sourav Gulia has been good. Arkam Shaikh looks like a very good cover defender but is not able to convert the tackles into points through his dashes. The inexperience in the defensive setup is causing more trouble for Gujarat Giants which Ram Mehar Singh has to take care of against the raiding duo of Manjeet and Meetu.

Both Manjeet nor Meetu haven't scored points simultaneously in a single match. If the duo are able to score points together then the Gujarat Giants' defence will have no answer and Haryana Steelers can take the upper hand. 

Did you know

Partheek Dahiya is the brother-in-law of the star defender Deepak Niwas Hooda from Bengal Warriors.

Broadcast - PKL 9

Time - 08:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar