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Bengal Warriors delivered a huge shock when they edged the Jaipur Pink Panthers in their final game of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi season to throw the race for the final semi-final spot wide open. With Jaipur needing a win to put one foot in the semi-finals, Bengal Warriors put their dreams on hold to leave Jaipur with a possible do or die game against the Patna Pirates on 19th August.
So with the final spot of semi-finalist hinging on the two games we take a look at various scenarios which could arise come the end of the league stage.
Patna take on resurgent hosts Puneri Paltan on Tuesday. For the Pirates a win would do them a world of good as it will either take them level on points or just a point behind Jaipur Pink Panthers going into the game against them and making it a straight knock-out game.
But a defeat could hand the initiative back to the Pink Panthers. But the Pirates have to make sure that if they don’t lose to the Puneri Paltan by too many and grab the extra point to stay in the hunt. Even with a single point from the game against Puneri Paltan, the Patna Pirates could qualify if they beat the Pink Panthers by a certain margin, thanks to a superior head to head record.
Then in the final game of the league stage, Patna Pirates will face off with the Jaipur Pink Panthers with the game most likely to be a straight knockout game. But the extra point on offer for the losing team could come into play big time if Patna go into the game trailing Jaipur by five points. In this case a mere win might not be enough for the Patna Pirates as if they beat Jaipur Pink Panthers by a margin of less than eight points then the extra point earned due to the lesser margin of defeat will see the Champions in the ring to defend their crown.
So the battle for the semi-final has highly intensified after Jaipur Pink Panthers’ loss yesterday. As the old cliché says, it’s the squeaky bum time.
