The Jaipur Pink Panthers will face the Puneri Paltan in the top of the table clash at the atmospheric Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Saturday in the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League season 4. The Panthers continue to impress in front of their home fans as they overpowered the challenges posed by the Bengal Warriors in Friday’s encounter. The Abhishek Bachchan owned team was part of three nail-biting finishes with two wins and a tie in their home leg. The inaugural champions have regained more confidence and without any doubt, they are going to fight tooth and nail against Pune.
The table toppers Puneri Paltans have slipped a bit after defeating the Telugu Titans and U Mumba. The powerful Pune team surrendered to the defending champions Patna Pirates before playing a closely fought stalemate against Delhi in their final home fixture. The Pune set-up is well built in both attack and defence but the reluctant Panthers side considers to be a real test for the table toppers.
Match Prediction
The crowd favourite Jasvir Singh has rediscovered his old touch in the first three home leg matches. The skipper won the best raider of the match consecutively on two occasions in three days. Jasvir’s strong back kick and diving hand touches in both the corners made life difficult for the Bengal defence in yesterday’s encounter. He has 13 raid points to his name including a super tackle in the final moments of the game. Surely, Jasvir will be targeted by his counterpart Manjeet Chhillar who looks rock-solid in the defence.
Jaipur’s best signing of the season Shabeer Bapu, who is known for gruelling raids, acted as a prolific all-rounder against the Warriors. He saved Jaipur on two occasions with strong super tackles and stunning raids. Shabeer’s all round act diminished the momentum gathered by the Bengal Warriors at one stage. The experienced Rajesh Narwal alongside Ran Singh faces a stern test against Ajay Thakur and Sonu Narwal.
Puneri Paltan, led by the mighty Manjeet Chhillar looks to hand Jaipur the first defeat at their home fortress. Ajay Thakur who looked unstoppable against U Mumba has lost his shape and was less effective against Patna Pirates and Dabang Delhi. The 30-year-old should put a spectacular show along with Sonu Narwal against the Panthers.
The defensive force in the corners Ravindra Pahal and Joginder Narwal should come good against the destructive Shabeer Bapu. The duo of Deepak Niwas Hudda and Nitin Tomar were in bits and pieces in the current edition and it’s important for the raiders to challenge Amit Hooda and Ran Singh in today’s battle.
The rapturous Jaipur crowd has witnessed three nail wrecking finishes, and the crowd hopes to get more entertainment when Jaipur Pink Panthers square off against the table toppers in the crunch tie.
The head to head battle is strongly in favour of Jaipur with 4-1 in the last six previous outings. Pune’s only victory against the former champions came at the Sawai Mansingh stadium in season 3.
The top of the table clash is going to be an interesting battle, to say the least, as both teams are tied with 14 points but considering Jaipur’s strong comeback in the previous matches and more importantly, home advantage will push the Panthers one step ahead of their enemies.
Jaipur Pink Panthers vs Puneri Paltan Squads
Jaipur Pink Panthers
Defenders: Rohit Rana, Amit Hooda, Parween Narwal
All-rounders: Rajesh Narwal, Shrikant Tewathia, Ran Singh, Parvesh Bhainswal, Jawahar, Kazuhiro Takano, Tae Deok Eom.
Raiders: Jasvir Singh, Masayuki Shimokawa, Mahipal Narwal, Shabeer Bappu, Lo Chia Wei, Tushar Patil, Amit Nagar.
Puneri Paltan
Defenders: Ketut Ariana, Gurpreet Singh, Somvir Shekhar, Ravinder Pahal, Joginder Narwal, Khomsan Thongkham, Virender Chhillar;
All-rounder: Parmod Narwal, Preetam Chhillar, Manjeet Chhillar, Dalbir, Deepak Niwas Hooda;
Raider: Ajay Thakur, Sonu Narwal, Jay Bahadur Bohara, Anil Shriram Nimbolkar, Akshay Jadhav.
Jaipur Pink Panthers vs Puneri Paltan Live Match Information
Date: 02/07/2016
Time: 21:00 IST
Venue: Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur
TV Channel: Star Sports 2 (English), Star Sports 3 (Hindi)
Live Stream: starsports.com
