PKL 9: Gujarat Giants to face the big challenge Puneri Paltan

Ram Mehar Singh's team is already out of playoff race.

Puneri Paltan has become the first team in the PKL season 9 to qualify for the playoffs losing just four matches in the 18 matches played so far. Puneri Paltan won the last encounter against Telugu Titans quite comfortably (38-25). Pankaj Mohite scored eight points and this is the first time the youngster was provided with good game time.

Gujarat Giants lost a close battle against Tamil Thalaivas (39-42) which was kind of a do-or-die encounter. The western unit is currently placed 11th in the points table and has very less chance of qualifying. Deon Geon Lee for the first time this season was given the captain's armband and did a decent job in raiding. 

Team News

Puneri Paltan

Raiders: Aslam Inamdar, Mohit Goyat, Pankaj Mohite, Akash Shinde, Shubham Shelke, Aditya Shinde

All-Rounders: Mohammad Nabibakhsh, Balasaheb Jadhav, Govind Gurjar

Defenders: Sanket Sawant, Fazel Atrachali, Abinesh Nadarajan, Sombir, D Mahindra Prasad, Badal Singh, Alankar Patil, Rakesh Ram

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

Head to Head

Puneri Paltan and Gujarat Giants have faced each other 11 times at the Pro Kabaddi League out of which, Gujarat Giants have won seven matches whereas Puneri Paltan has come out victorious on three occasions with one match ending in a tie.

Player to watch

Pankaj Mohite from Puneri Paltan is one of the most talented players in the Pro Kabaddi league. With the team having a good balance in the raiding department, Pankaj wasn't given enough chances to showcase his skills. Puneri Paltan now has four matches left in the league stages and now needs to test the bench strength with some game time.

Partheek Dahiya has been the only consistent raider for Gujarat Giants in the entire season 9 with others chipping in in crucial situations. Partheek Dahiya shall look to attack the cover duo of Saketh Sawant and Abhinesh Nadarajan which can be considered a weak link for the table toppers.  

Key to Success

Gujarat Giants' defence needs to step up and is one of the weak links that coach Ram Mehar Singh has to look into. Arkam Shaikh has the most number of unsuccessful tackles in season 9 and the cover defender needs to be careful against the young raiding trio from Puneri Paltan. 

Puneri Paltan shall now look to focus on the playoffs and try out a few players from the bench. If the main players do not perform well or get injured then the table toppers shall be in a position to replace them swiftly without much hadoo. The cover combo of Abhinesh and Saketh needs to be careful against Gujarat’s raiders who have been excellent this season.

Did you know

Mahendra Ganesh Rajput breached the 300 points (raid+defence) mark in the 91 matches played in Pro Kabaddi League.

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