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The sixth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League is here and with that, a lot of excitement in the air, as the opening encounter of the league will feature the home team Tamil Thalaivas and defending champions Patna Pirates locking horns at the Jawaharlal Indoor Stadium in Chennai.
The home team, led by skipper Ajay Thakur will hope to erase the ghosts of their past and do much better than their last-place finish from last season while the Pirates will be exuding in confidence with a hat-trick of titles backing their 'favorites' tag in this encounter.
The Thalaivas looked an extremely happy bunch post the auctions, with a host of experienced stars walking into the side. Manjeet Chhillar and Ajay Thakur are all set to re-kindle their alliance which began in season one, while experienced hands in Jasvir Singh and Sukesh Hegde will also be of vital importance to the Thalaivas.
The Pirates, on the other hand, will be led by Pardeep Narwal, who has made more than just a name for himself in the league. However, the Pirates captain will hope to brush off his poor string of performances from the Asian Games, and in the company of Deepak Narwal and Surinder Singh, put the Thalaivas defense to test.
While the Pirates retained a whole chunk of their defensive unit apart from Pardeep Narwal, the Thalaivas retained Ajay Thakur and the defense duo of Amit Hooda and C Arun. On paper, the Thalaivas look up to the task but on the mat, it could all boil down to the final minute.
Team form and match prediction
Team Form
Tamil Thalaivas: W L W L L (From last season)
Patna Pirates: W W W W D (Form from last season)
The Thalaivas finished in the last place from Zone 'B' last season, having managed to win just six out of 22 group stages matches, while the Patna Pirates won the summit clash to walk away with the title.
Match Prediction
The Patna Pirates have in their roster Pardeep Narwal, who has been the Pirates' calling card for the last three seasons but with the Thalaivas roping in a lot of experience into the squad, the Ajay Thakur-led side might have the upper hand in this encounter.
Tamil Thalaivas to beat the Patna Pirates.
Telecast details
Venue: Jawaharlal Indoor Stadium, Chennai.
Start time: 7.50 PM IST
Telecast: Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports Hindi 1
Live streaming: Hotstar
