PKL 9 Final: Puneri Paltan, Jaipur Pink Panthers to fight for the title

The Season 1 winners will be against the Fazel Atrachali-led team in the showdown of the tournament.

Puneri Paltan after a close win against Tamil Thalaivas progressed through to the PKL 9 final for the first time. Pankaj Mohite stood out and scored 16 raid points in the absence of lead raiders Aslam Inamdar and Mohit. Nabibaksh scored only six points but helped Pune bail out from crucial situations using his experience.

Jaipur Pink Panthers progressed to the finals for the first time since season 4 after winning a one-sided battle against Bengaluru Bulls. The defensive unit set up the momentum especially Sahul Kumar who scored ten tackle points joint most in the playoffs. Apart from Sahul, Ankush and Reza too completed their high 5s.

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

Jaipur Pink Panthers

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

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

All-Rounder: Rahul Gorakh Dhanawade

Head to Head

Jaipur Pink Panthers and Puneri Paltan have faced each other 20 times in the Pro Kabaddi League out of which, Jaipur has won ten matches whereas Puneri Paltan has come out victorious on eight occasions with two matches ending in a tie.

Player to watch

Pankaj Mohite shall be the player to watch out for in the absence of injured Aslam Inamdar and Mohit Goyat. He will be up against the season’s top defender Ankush with the defensive unit of Jaipur working in unison. Pankaj was able to make use of the inexperienced defence of Tamil Thalaivas but he shall be smarter against Jaipur Pink Panthers. One way to score consistently is through running hand touch which will put Jaipur under toes rather than just sticking to one side of the mat.    

Arjun Deshwal the league's top raider shall make use of his experience against Puneri Paltan. He will be up against the combo of Nabibaksh and Fazel Athrachali in the right corner position. Fazel has not been in great form off late but can turn up at crucial moments. Arjun Deshwal should also look to make use of the inexperienced cover position and try to score more points from that region.

Key to Success

For Jaipur Pink Panthers the defence has been the core strength and with Aslam and Mohit out they will be up against Pankaj Mohite and Akash Shinde who both will be playing the first finals in the Pro Kabaddi League. On the other hand, Puneri Paltan will rely on Fazel Athrachali in defence along with his captainship. Fazel played with Ajith Kumar in the last season and can get hold of him which can weaken Jaipur’s raid attack. Jaipur does not have enough backup raiders to score points which will help Puneri Paltan.

Did you know

Jaipur Pink Panthers has three defenders who have scored 50+ tackle points (Ankush Rathee, Sunil Kumar, and Sahul Kumar) in the Pro Kabaddi League.

Broadcast - PKL 9

Time - 08:00 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar