The Star Sports Pro Kabaddi season 4 action shifts to the capital city of India after witnessing a lot of nail-biting encounters at the Mumbai leg. The second match of the Delhi leg will see the Telugu Titans go head to head against the Jaipur Pink Panthers at the Thyagaraj Sports complex.
The Telugu Titans played a nail-biting tie against U Mumba in their last match. After losing 4 matches in a row, the Titans are currently enjoying an unbeaten streak of 7 matches. With 6 wins and 4 losses, the season 2 semi-finalist are sitting in the third place and a win in today’s match would seal them a spot in the playoffs.
The Jaipur Pink Panthers, on the other hand, have already secured a place in the knockouts after overpowering the Patna Pirates on Friday. The table toppers, with 8 wins and 4 losses, look to spoil Telugu's hopes of reaching the playoffs for the second time in Pro Kabaddi history.
Match Prediction
The poster boy of Pro Kabaddi Rahul Chaudhari tops the leaderboard with 97 raid points including four super tens in season 4. Despite suffering a right shoulder injury at the start of a season, Rahul’s impeccable form laid the foundation for the Titans after losing the first four matches. Rahul will be strongly tested in today’s battle against the cornerstones of the Jaipur defence Ran Singh and Amit Hooda.
Sukesh Hegde’s poor form with just three raid points and Nilesh Salunke’s unimpressive run in the previous matches adds more pressure on Rahul. The duo should complement their skipper in today’s match.
The cornerstones of the Telugu defence Sandeep Narwal and Sandeep Dhull have scored a combined 63 raid points in season 4. The young Sandeep Dhull tops the leaderboard on the successful tackles per match. The corner defenders failed to put a strong display against Jaipur in the previous clash, however, they have grown immensely in the last 6 matches and the duo is one of the reasons for Titans ‘ dream run in season 4.
The young Vinod should ably support Narwal and Dhull in dealing the Jaipur attack lead by Jasvir Singh.
Also read: Pro Kabaddi 2016, Season 4: Team of the Mumbai Leg - Home team disappoints
With 54 raid points, Ajay Kumar has changed the label of Jaipur attack from being good to destructive. Ajay bailed the team out on numerous occasions in the do-or-die raids, in season 4 and moreover, he has been tackled only once in the whole of 40 minutes.
Jasvir Singh’s return to form in the last couple of matches have been a big boost for the Panthers. In the previous clash against the Titans, the all-rounder Rajesh Narwal turned the tide in favour of Jaipur with a super raid in the final moments of the game. The 26-year-old looks set to trouble the Telugu defence once again in today’s battle.
The head to head stands 4-2 in favour of Jaipur and moreover, the Rahul Chaudhari led team have never defeated the Panthers since the closely fought win at the Chhatrapati Sports Complex.
When these two teams met earlier, Rahul Chaudhari missed a game due to Shoulder injury. No doubt, the Jaipur defenders will face a mammoth battle against the leading raider of Pro Kabaddi.
It’s an interesting battle, to say the least, but the ruthless attack of the Titans holds the cutting edge over Jaipur’s solid defence.
Squads
Telugu Titans
Defenders: Vinod Kumar, Sandeep Dhull,
All-rounders: Jasmer Singh Gulia, Rupesh Tomar, Sandeep Narwal, Mohammad Maghsoudlou, Shashank Wankhede, Aklhaq Hussain, Muhammed Rizwan, Sagar B. Krishna, Vishal Bhardwaj
Raiders: Vinoth Kumar, K.Prapanjan, Nilesh Salunke. Rahul Chaudhary, Sukesh Hegde, Sombir, Athul MS
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Defenders: Wei Yang, Rohit Rana, Amit Hooda,
All-rounders: Rajesh Narwal, Shrikant Tewathia, Ran Singh, Parvesh Bhainswal, Parween Narwal
Raiders: Jasvir Singh, Masayuki Shimokava, Mahipal Narwal, Shabeer Bappu, Lo Chia Wei, Tushar Patil, Amit Nagar
Telugu Titans vs Jaipur Pink Panthers Live Match Information
Date: 24/07/2016
Time: 21:00 IST
Venue: Thyagaraj Sports Complex, Delhi
TV Channels: Star Sports 2/Star Sports 2 HD (English), Star Sports 3/Star Sports 3 HD (Hindi)
Live stream: StarSports.com
