Patna Pirates vs Dabang Delhi: Can the Eagles hand the league leaders their first defeat?
Dabang Delhi take on Patna Pirates tonight in the first match of the night of day 2 of the Pune leg of season 3 of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi League. The Pirates will look to continue their unbeaten streak in this season's competition while Delhi will be on the lookout for their maiden win of the campaign.
The team from Delhi has had a tough season so far, losing all their matches, despite good performances in some of those matches. Their previous match saw them go down to Bengal Warriors meekly, and they will want to set the record straight when they take on Patna tonight.
The Dabangs have no more margin for error, and need to ensure they capitalize on every opportunity they get during the match. With star raider Kashiling Adake away on national team duty playing in the South Asian Games, Surjeet Singh and Rohit Chaudhary in the raiding department have to step up and make up for his absence.
Rohit hasn't really come into his own yet this season and this is just the moment for him to show everyone what he can do. With only 6 raid points so far this season, the young raider willl have the perfect opportunity tonight to put the team on his back and take them to their maiden win. With Kashiling not available, Rohit will get many more raids to attempt, and that should ideally help him get a lot more points in.
Surjeet Singh has been good in his appearances so far, having accumulated 24 points. It is time for him to show he can lead the team well and what better team to show it against than the current table toppers Patna Pirates.
Patna have been the team to beat, a team that has played to their strengths very well. The Pirates will also be missing a couple of players, Sandeep Narwal and Rohit Kumar, who are playing for India at the South Asian Games. Sandeep Narwal has been a key player for them, with his defence one of the most important reasons behind their unbeaten streak as his 20 successful tackles show.
However, the real star for the league leaders has been their young raider, 18-year-old Pardeep Narwal, who has impressed everyone with his agility and innovative raids, and has scored 47 points so far. Ravinder Pahal in the Delhi defence will have to be on top of his game to keep the young raider quiet.
Match details:
The match between Dabang Delhi and Patna Pirates is the 1st match of the day, and will start at 8 pm Indian time.