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In the second Eliminator of the PKL 2018 playoffs, Dabang Delhi K.C. takes on the Bengal Warriors at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi tomorrow, Sunday at 9 pm IST.
The Dabangs finished third in the Zone A standings with 68 points off 22 matches, with 11 wins, 9 losses and a couple of ties.
Fighting against inconsistency in the ranks throughout the season, the Dabangs finally managed to find a semblance of consistency in the final stretch of the league stage as they strung together 5 wins in their last 7 encounters.
Young Naveen Kumar was their breakthrough star this season and played a critical role in their first ever qualification for the playoffs. He was also their best raider as he finished 12th on the top raiders list with 151 points at an average of 7.55 raid points per match.
While their defence, overall, did not score a flurry of points in the season but it improved to work together like a well-oiled machine in the latter part of the season, giving them crucial points to take them to the playoffs.
Bengal Warriors, on the other hand, finished second in the Zone B standings with 69 points off 22 matches with 12 wins, 8 losses, and 2 tied encounters.
They went through their ups and downs in the season and managed to secure a place for themselves in the playoffs on the back of some exceptional performances.
Maninder Singh has been a force to reckon for the Warriors since the last season. This season too, he showed exceptional consistency to score 198 points at an average of 9.43 raid points per match to justify his fifth position in the top raiders list.
The Warriors looked a strong defensive unit on paper with the likes of Surjeet Singh, Ran Singh, and Shrikant Tewthia manning their defence. But their defence constantly showed signs of discord and impatience which resulted in them scoring 194 points at an average of just 8.82 tackle points per match.
While the raiding looks evenly matched, the team which has the better defence on the night would clinch the encounter.
Previous Meetings
The two teams, Bengal Warriors and Dabang Delhi, have faced each other twice in the league in this season, in Match 27 and in Match 126, with the Dabangs coming out on top on both the occasions with scorelines of 39-30 and 37-31 respectively.
Key Battles to keep an eye on
#1 Naveen Kumar (right raider) vs Ran Singh (left corner)
#2 Maninder Singh (right raider) vs Joginder Narwal (left corner)
Probable playing 7
Bengal Warriors: Ran Singh (c), Maninder Singh, Jang Kun Lee, Ravindra Ramesh Kumawat, Ziaur Rahman, Surjeet Singh, and Baldev Singh
Dabang Delhi: Joginder Narwal (c), Naveen Kumar, Chandran Ranjit, Meraj Sheykh, Vishal Mane, Rajesh Narwal, and Ravinder Pahal
When and where to watch: 21:00 IST on the Star Sports network and on digital streaming platform Hotstar.
Catch the league stage Pro Kabaddi Points Table here at Sportskeeda.
