PKL 9: Puneri Paltan to lock horns with Telugu Titans

Both team have won only one game in the season so far.

Puneri Paltans won their first match in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9 against U Mumba in their fourth encounter. The Maharashtrian derby was a tight contest with Puneri Paltan beating U Mumba 30-28. This win should give them a lot of confidence going forward in the next match against Telugu Titans after a poor start to the season having one of the best sides on papers.

Telugu Titans have looked highly inconsistent even after the presence of experienced raiders and defenders. None of the players has played together causing problems but needs to step up after having played four matches. In the last game against Dabang Delhi KC, the southern side lost by 20 point margin denting their confidence.

Team News

Puneri Paltans

Raiders:

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

All-Rounders:

Mohammad Nabibakhsh (overseas player), Balasaheb Jadhav, Govind Gurjar

Defenders:

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

Telugu Titans

Raiders:

Abhishek Singh, Monu Goyat, Siddharth Sirish Desai, Rajnish, Ankit Beniwal, Vinay, Aman Kadian

All-Rounder:

Mohsen Maghsoudlou Jafari, K Hanumanthu, Hamid Mirzaei Nader, Ravinder

Defenders:

Surjeet Singh, Parvesh Bhainswal, Vishal Bhardwaj, Adarsh T, Ravinder Pahal, Vijay Kumar, Nitin, Mohit, Mohit Pahal. Muhammed Shihas S.

Head to Head

Puneri Paltan and Telugu Titans have faced each other 16 times in the Pro Kabaddi League. Out of these 16 games, Puneri Paltan has won nine whereas Telugu Titans have come out victorious on six occasions with only one match ending in a tie.

Player to watch

Surjeet Singh is now currently leading the team in the absence of Ravinder Pahal. In the past, the cover defender has shown leadership skills leading Bengal Warriors to the title and was one of the most important defenders as well. Similarly, this season Surjeet has a huge task of combining all the experienced players and working in tandem.

Fazel “Sultan” Athrachali after a poor start in his first game came back to form dining the left corner position and was close to scoring a high 5. Fazel like Surjeeth Singh is known for his leadership skills having led U Mumba in the past and has helped develop many players including the raiders like Ajith Kumar and Abhishek Singh. This season Puneri has a pretty young squad with Aslam Inamdar, and Pankaj Mohite and will need to guide them in the right direction.

Key to Success

For Puneri Paltans Mohammed Nabibaksh needs to score raid points which he has been lacking at. In the last game against U Mumba, the all-rounder scored four tackle points with none coming from the raiding department. If the allrounder along with Mohit Goyat can come good in both attack and defence then the team can look more diverse.

The raiding department needs to step up and show consistency. Monu Goyat has scored only one super 10 in the four matches and needs to step up being the most experienced raider along with Siddharth Desai. The absence of Rajnish has hurt Telugu Titans very badly but Ankit Beniwal the other retained raider can take up his position.

Did you know

Since PKL season 5 Telugu Titans have defeated Puneri Paltans only once in the seven matches played and the Puneri Paltans side remain unbeaten for the past two seasons.

Broadcast

Time - 08:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar