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Patna Pirates take on the Bengaluru Bulls in a Zone B clash of PKL 2018 at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex in Panchkula today, Wednesday at 8 PM IST.
The Pirates are coming off a 31-47 defeat to the UP Yoddha, as their defense continues to disappoint and lead them to defeats.
Their defense could score just 9 tackle points vis-a-vis the Yoddhas' 13 points, and their ineffectiveness to curb the scoring led to the Yoddhas scoring 26 raid points. Their overdependency on Pardeep Narwal came to the fore, as it was one of the rare out-of-form days for Pardeep (2 raid points) and his team failed to rise up to fill the vacuum.
The Bengaluru Bulls, on the other hand, are coming off a comprehensive 16-point victory (44-28) over the Telugu Titans to become the first team from Zone B to qualify for the playoffs.
Both their offense and defense were on point as they dominated the proceedings from the get-go. While Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (13 points) and Rohit Kumar (6 raid points) led the team's attack, Amit Sheoran (5 points) and Ashish Kumar Sangwan (4 points) were the key players in the defense.
Patna Pirates and Bengaluru Bulls have met each other twice in the season so far, wherein the Bulls won the first encounter, Match 42, by 43-41, whereas the Pirates came back strongly to win the second, Match 82, by 35-32. It's one each and both the teams would be looking for a win to gain crucial confidence before the playoffs.
Key Battles to keep an eye on
#1 Pardeep Narwal (left raider) vs Raju Lal Choudhary (right corner)
#2 Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (right raider) vs Jaideep (left corner)
Probable playing 7
Patna Pirates: Pardeep Narwal (c), Manjeet, Vikas Jaglan, Vijay, Manish, Vikas Kale, and Jaideep
Bengaluru Bulls: Rohit Kumar (c), Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Harish Naik, Ashish Kumar Sangwan, Mahender Singh, Amit Sheoran, and Raju Lal Choudhary
When and where to watch: 20:00 IST on the Star Sports network and on digital streaming platform Hotstar.
Catch the latest updates of the Pro Kabaddi Points Table here at Sportskeeda.
