The Bengal Warriors will take on the Telugu Titans, in Match 40 of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 4, at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium. Bengal Warriors have been disappointing this season and have failed to live up to its’ reputation. The Warriors are at the bottom of the table with only 2 wins and a draw in their opening 10 matches. But the Bengal outfit still has an outside chance of making it to the semis, but not only do they have to win all their remaining matches, they will also be dependent on the other results going their way.
The Telugu Titans have put up some good performances in this season's’ Pro Kabaddi League and currently, occupy 4th place in the group table. With 5 wins from their 9 matches, the Titans will be fairly confident of making it to the semis, but are under a lot of pressure by U Mumba, who are just 2 points behind them, at the 5th place. The Titans will be desperate to put aside the tournament underperformers, Bengal Warriors, and consolidate their place at the top half of the table.
Bengal Warriors performance so far
The Bengal Warriors’ last match against the Patna Pirates was a high-scoring thriller as the defending champions won 33-27. The Warriors have looked far more confident playing at home, as they won their first match home match against former champions, Jaipur Pink Panthers, and put up an inspirational performance last night against the defending champs. The Warriors defence looked far more solid and made life very difficult for the Patna raiders.
Monu Goyat was pretty efficient, managing to score in the crucial do-or-die raids. Monu, single-handedly, kept the scoreboard ticking for the Warriors and put them in a good position till Pardeep Narwal decided to show up. The Patna Pirates man lit up the second half with a super raid and followed it up with a 4 point raid. Korean raider, Jang-Kun Lee was impressive, and gave Warriors a glimpse of hope as he scored a 2 point raid late into the game to reduce the deficit to 3 points, but it was all a little too late for the Bengal franchise.
A lot was expected of the Bengal defence coming into Season 4, but they’ve failed to live up to their reputation so far. The Warriors’ defence has shown their brilliance in only small patches this season and has been very inconsistent. It’s high time for the Bengal franchise to tighten their defense and their skipper, Nilesh Shinde has to lead from the front.
Supporting Shinde in corner defense, Girish Ernak, will have to put up a strong performance against the likes of Rahul Chaudhuri and Sandeep Narwal. Former U Mumba man, Vishal Mane, is another defender in the Warriors’ rank with a lot of talent but has failed to deliver this season. The Bengal defence has to be at the top of their game if they are to defeat the Titans today.
The Warriors received a huge boost as crowd-favorite and star raider, Jang-Kun Lee, recovered from injury and has impressed since. Nitish Madane is another key player in Bengal’s attack, who scored a super ten against the Paltan, in Match 25. The duo of Lee and Madane will look to exploit the Titans’ defence, and put them under pressure early on in the match.
Monu Goyat is slowly becoming an important part of the Warriors’ side, as he put up a brilliant performance against the Pirates yesterday. Goyat, along with Ravi Dalal, will have crucial roles to play as the third and fourth raiders.
Telugu Titans performance so far
The Telugu Titans won their last match against the Puneri Paltans in a thrilling encounter, which ended 32-29. The Titans have been very impressive since their defeat to Bengaluru Bulls, as they continued their dream run to record 4 consecutive victories. The Titans started off poorly, and trailed at half-time, but inspirational performances from the skipper, Rahul Chaudhuri, and all-rounder, Sandeep Narwal, turned the match in their favour.
Telugu Titans have turned up the heat in the second half of the group stages, and a lot of credit has to go to their skipper. Rahul Chaudhuri is on fire, and is currently the 3rd best raider in Season 4, with 53 raid points. The Warrior's defence has been shaky till now, and Chaudhuri would be desperate to take them on. If his form is any indication, the Warriors defense is in for a long night.
Titans second raider, Nilesh Salunke, too has been impressive this season and has scored 29 raid points. He’ll have a crucial role to play alongside Chaudhuri. Youngsters, Vinod and Sandeep Dhull have put in some age-defying performances this season, with strong ankle holds and good pace across the mat.
The two rising stars will spearhead the Titans defence, and will have to put up a good showing against the likes of Jang-Kun Lee and Monu Goyat. Dhull has registered 24 tackle points and Vinod has 22.
Match prediction
The match isn’t as straight forward as it looks, and Bengal is a much better team than their position in the table would suggest. If Bengal can tighten their defence and show consistency throughout the match, they can a very hard team to battle.
The Titans team lack experience, especially in defence, and Jang-Kun Lee and his compatriots would want to take advantage of it. However, they’ll have their task cut out against the in-form Vinod and Dhull.
Bengal arguably has the better team on paper, but the Titans are in red hot form. The Titans will hold the edge over Bengal Warriors in today’s match.
Squads
Bengal Warriors
Defenders: Nilesh Shinde, Girish Ernak, Amit Singh Chhillar, Vishal Mane, Chaminda R.S.M, C.Arun, Ravi Kumar, Sushil Vijay Bhosle
All-rounders: Suyog Rajapkar, Yogesh Subhash Sawant
Raiders: Simon Kibura, Jang-Kun Lee, Nitin Mandane, Surjeet Narwal, Ravi Dalal, Shrikant Jadhav, Mahendra Ganesh Rajput, Ravindra Ramesh Kumavat
Telugu Titans
Raiders: Rahul Chaudhari (Captain), Sukesh Hegde, Nilesh Salunke, K Prapanjan, Athul MS, Vinoth Kumar.
Defenders: Vinod, Sandeep Dhull, Shashank Wankhede, Sombir, Akhlaq Hussain
All-Rounders: Sandeep Narwal, Jasmer Singh Gulia, Mohammad Maghsoudlou, Muhammad Rizwan, Rupesh Tomar, S Mahalingam, Sagar B Krishna, Vishal Bharadwaj.
Bengal Warriors vs Telugu Titans Live Match Information
Date: 18/07/2016
Time: 20:00 IST
Venue: Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium, Kolkata.
TV Channels: Star Sports 2/Star Sports 2 HD (English), Star Sports 3/Star Sports 3 HD (Hindi)
Live stream: StarSports.com
