Registering their first elusive win this season, the Telugu Titans will take on the high-flying Bengaluru Bulls in the Southern Derby of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League Season 4 at Titans home turf, the Ganchibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad. Day 2 of the Hyderabad leg produced two great games, a nail-biter involving the Bengaluru Bulls and the other lop-sided game featuring the Telugu Titans.
The Telugu Titans, after succumbing to three consecutive losses had to make the game against the Bengal Warriors count. Making it count was exactly what the Titans did, beating the Warriors by a humongous margin of 17 points to move one spot above the Bengal Warriors, who are now languishing at the bottom of the table.
Star raiders Rohit Kumar (Bengaluru Bulls) and Rahul Chaudhari (Telugu Titans) put in stunning performances to take their team to victory. Although these two men stood out, Mohit Chhillar and Sandeep Dhull played their defender roles to perfection, to add extra fuel and ignited the fuel to succeed.
With the current form both teams are enjoying, the southern derby promises to provide unmatched entertainment. The Telugu Titans will be overjoyed by their first win, while the Bulls will look to keep up the adrenaline rush and add more points to their tally.
Telugu Titans’ performance so far
Suffering three losses in a trot, the Rahul Chaudhari led Telugu Titans had to overcome their low self-esteem and conjure up a winning formula to upstage the Bengal Warriors. Since the time the Titans stepped onto the mat to battle the Warriors, they seemed on a mission. A mission to register their first win at any cost.
Sukesh Hegde, who was in woeful form was replaced by Mohammad Maghsodlou while Sandeep Dhull occupied the right corner in place of S Mahalingam. Maghsoudlou did not have any say in the game whilst Sandeep Dhull turned out to be the secret formula that the Titans were looking for.
Although Rahul Chaudhari scored 11 raid points to his name and created a record for the most Super 10’s in the history of PKL, Sandeep Dhull ensured that the Bengal raiders were kept at bay and had to toil hard for raid points.
Bengaluru Bulls’ performance so far
Bengaluru’s top raider Rohit Kumar continued his great form against the Paltan with eight points to his credit, including a super raid in the dying minutes which could be termed as ‘moment of the tournament’. Mohit Chhillar was at his attacking best, registering another Super 5 to his name to keep the Paltan raiders under check at all times.
Against a strong raiding department, the Bulls put up a courageous performance, Mohit leading the way. Such was the performance, that Ajay Thakur could not score a single point throughout the whole contest. With 10 minutes left on the clock, Ashish Sangwan produced two super tackles in a row as well as a raid point to keep Bengaluru afloat and avoid an all-out.
Pune inflicted an all-out with less than two minutes left on the clock which seemed like the end of the road for the Bulls. However, Rohit Kumar had other ideas as he first produced a single point, then produced a stunning super raid which brought the lead to Bengaluru. Once Sonu Narwal went back with a point, Rohit ran in and foiled Manjeet Chhillar’s attempt to tackle, winning Bengaluru win the thriller by a thin margin of two points.
Match Prediction
After registering victories in their previous matches, both the teams will be on a high. While the Bulls were given a good amount of competition from the Paltan, the Titans had an easy way through and rampaged through the Warriors with much ease.
Rahul Chaudhari, with two consecutive super 10’s, will be an X-factor going into this game. In the form he is in, it has been almost impossible to stop him, even with the injury playing on his mind. Sandeep Narwal has been an ideal all-rounder, while Sandeep Dhull has inducted some fresh, exciting blood into the Titans set-up and their combination will be vital to stop Rohit Kumar.
The Bulls have been bolstered by the stunning form of Rohit Kumar, who has 27 points from just 4 games. Rohit has often taken Bengaluru out of deep waters but has also spent a considerable out on the benches. His time on the court could add value to Bengaluru’s cause and will have a major say in the outcome of the game.
With Rahul in some vociferous form, Mohit Chhillar will have an integral role to play in stopping the Titans captain from taking the game away from Bengaluru with his lightning quick raids and smart skills.
Both teams are in such spectacular form, and it is tough to pick a winner. However, we go with the Bengaluru Bulls as the squad seems settled and in the groove to come out successful during any type of a situation.
Squads
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.
Bengaluru Bulls
Raiders : Amit Rathi, Deepak Kumar Dahiya, Rohit Baliyan, Harish Naik, Pawan Kumar, Rohit Kumar, Pawan Kumar, SInotharan Kanesharajah, Sumit Singh, Vinod Kumar.
Defenders : Surender Nada (Captain), Mohit Chhillar, Ashish Sangwan, Jeeva Gopal, Manoj Kumar, Yogesh Hooda, Rahul Kumar, Nicholas George Mottaram, Ajay Singh.
All-Rounders : Sanjay Shrestha.
Telugu Titans vs Bengaluru Bulls Live Match Information
Date: 05/07/2016
Time: 20:00 IST
Venue: Ganchibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad.
TV Channels: Star Sports 2/Star Sports 2 HD (English), Star Sports 3/Star Sports 3 HD (Hindi)
Live stream: http://www.starsports.com
