Pro Kabaddi 2019 Playoffs: Ranking the 6 teams based on their previous playoffs record
The 2019 edition of Pro Kabaddi League will enter its playoffs phase tonight as the fans will witness two high-profile eliminator matches at the EKA Arena in Ahmedabad. In the first eliminator, the comeback kings U.P. Yoddha will battle the defending champions Bengaluru Bulls while in the second eliminator match, the Season 2 champions U Mumba will meet Rakesh Kumar’s side, Haryana Steelers.
The winners of these two matches will further clash with the top two teams of the tournament, Dabang Delhi K.C. and Bengal Warriors in the semi-finals before the winners of those two games fight with each other in the grand finale on 19th October. The kabaddi universe is billing the upcoming week to be the ‘World’s Toughest Week’ and in this week, experience will matter the most.
All the six teams have featured in the knockout stages earlier and here’s a look at their records in high-pressure matches -
#6 Bengal Warriors
Matches - 5, Won - 0, Lost - 5
The second best team of PKL 2019, Bengal Warriors have previously failed to play well in the playoffs. They have played 5 playoff matches of PKL and have won none. They had lost the semi-final match to U Mumba in the third season, followed by a loss to Puneri Paltan in the third-place playoff of the same edition.
In Season 5, they had topped the points table of Zone B but they squandered both the opportunities they received by losing to Gujarat Fortune Giants and Patna Pirates. Even in Season 6, they could not make it to the final, despite reaching the playoffs.
#5 Haryana Steelers
Matches - 1, Won - 0, Lost - 1
This is the second time the Haryana Steelers will take part in the playoffs of Pro Kabaddi League. However, the Steelers had performed poorly in their previous playoff match. Fighting against Patna Pirates in the eliminator match of Season 5, the Steelers had lost the match by 39 points because of Pardeep Narwal’s heroics.
Rakesh Kumar and Dharmaraj Cheralathan will hope that the team performs well in the upcoming match against U Mumba.