PKL 11: Key player battles to watch out for in match 16 Bengaluru Bulls vs Puneri Paltan

Bengaluru Bulls will look for their first win against Puneri Paltan.

Bengaluru Bulls is having a stumbled start to Pro Kabaddi League season 11 (PKL 11). The Bulls have lost all three encounters with a considerable point difference. Bengaluru Bulls will play their fourth match against Puneri Paltan on Friday in search of their first win of the season.

Pardeep Narwal-led Bengaluru Bulls have not been able to gel up as a team till now. The core problem has been their failure to gather raid points in their matches. The Raiders have failed to make an impact on their opposition. Other than Pardeep Narwal, only Jatin was able to score 9 points in the previous match. Above that, even their defence has not been on point with just a 39% tackle success rate.

On the other hand, Puneri Paltan faced their first defeat against the mighty Tamil Thalaivas on Wednesday. The Paltan will be looking to get on the winning track once again when they turn out against the Bulls on Friday. Puneri Paltan has had an amazing start to their campaign with two impressive wins until they lost to the Thalaivas. Mohit Goyat and Aslam Inamdar have been strong in the raids. Whereas Gaurav Khatri, Aman and Abinesh Nadarajan have shown great performances in the defence.

In their upcoming match, Bengaluru Bulls and Puneri Paltan will be putting their best foot forward to score a crucial win for the team. Although it will be a fiasco of battles between these two teams, here are the top three-player battles you would want to keep an eye on.

Pardeep Narwal vs Gaurav Khatri

The most successful raider in the history of the Pro Kabaddi League, Pardeep Narwal, showed dominance in the previous match where he scored 16 points. He has improved in every match of the season. Narwal has scored 28 points in three matches. It will be of utmost importance for the Bulls that Narwal plays another crucial part against Puneri Paltan.

On the other hand, for Puneri Paltan, it will be Gaurav Khatri’s responsibility to stop the ‘Dubki King’ from scoring big. Khatri has been an important part of the Paltan’s defence in this season as well. Khatri has scored 14 tackle points along with 2 High-5s in this season. In addition to that, Khatri scored 69 tackle points in the previous season as well, including 4 High-5s. When these two will come against each other, it is going to be a tremendous battle.

Aslam Inamdar vs Surinder Singh

Aslam Inamdar is an excellent all-rounder and was a crucial member of the trophy-lifting side last year. Inamdar scored a brilliant 168 points, including 142 raid and 26 tackle points, in season 10. In PKL 11, Inamdar has scored 18 points, which includes 16 raid points and 2 tackle points.

Prohibiting the prowess of Inamdar will be the responsibility of Bengaluru Bulls’ star defender Surinder Singh who has gotten a good start to the season. Singh has scored 8 tackle points, including a High-5. He has been consistent with his game and the Bulls would want him to dominate in the defence and keep the Paltan’s raiders under pressure. So, this will be another battle which will decide the fate of the match.

Mohit Goyat vs Saurabh Nandal

Despite losing the match against Tamil Thalaivas, Mohit Goyat was the only good thing that happened to Puneri Paltan in that match. Goyat scored a Super-10, 13 points to be accurate and was the highest point scorer of the match. He has gotten a good start to the season with 25 points in his name in three matches.

Whereas Saurabh Nandal would be a threat to Goyat in the upcoming match, as Nandal will hold the right corner and will have the burden to keep the raiders away from scoring points. Nandal has had a decent start to the season with 7 tackle points in his name. However, he did not have a great outing in the last match. But for a player of his stature, he can come back quickly in form and can be a threat to Puneri Paltans’ raiders.

Bengaluru Bulls will be looking to open their win account tonight and have a big mountain to climb ahead of them. To get across the challenge, all these battles must be won by the Bulls’ players so that they can get the crucial points on the table.

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