Pro Kabaddi League 2018 - Match 32, Puneri Paltan vs UP Yoddha| Match Preview and Probable Lineups
The Puneri Paltan will take on the U.P. Yoddha in the last match of their home leg at the Pro Kabaddi League 2018 on 24th October 2018. The Paltan have had a good home leg so far. They are on the top of the table of Zone A and will look to maintain their position with yet another win. The U.P. Yoddha are in 4th place, having played 5 games with 1 win, 1 loss, and 1 tie, which happened recently against the Bengal Warriors.
The U.P. Yoddha have slowly started to gel together and their three main raiders, Rishank, Shrikanth Jadhav and Prashant Kumar Rai, are on 39, 38 and 39 points respectively. This shows the balance in their raiding unit and they will be a strong raiding side when they take on the Paltan and will look to break the Paltan defense which has looked solid so far.
Defensively, they had to change plans when their star cover defender Jeeva Kumar could not feature in their game plan due to injury. All-rounder Sagar Krishna in the right cover and young right corner Nitesh Kumar have done a great job in spearheading the defense, contributing 14 points.
Amit and Narender have been rotated among other options for the left cover and left corner, both of which have been the UP. Yoddha's weak link this season. This was evident when raiders like Pardeep and Maninder, who are primarily right raiders, were able to easily pick points off their corners.
Puneri Paltan have been very good this season largely due to Nitin Tomar, who is in great form this season having scored 6 Super 10s from 9 games. He has been supported well by Monu, Akshay Jadhav and More GB. The raiding unit from Pune have always managed to get points especially in pressure situations.
Defensively, they have been good this season after an initial struggle. Girish, the captain, has been brilliant in his role whether as left corner or cover. Ravi Kumar, the right cover, has been in form and has scored 20 points and has become an integral part of this side. Rinku Narwal and Shubham Shinde have looked average in their roles as left and right corner and will look to provide more decisive performances.
While Pune will look to close out their home leg with a win, the Yoddha will look to convert their positive starts into wins and handle the lead better and make advancement towards the top of the table in Zone B.
Probable Lineups: Puneri Paltan - Girish Ernak (C), Ravi Kumar, Nitin Tomar, Monu, Akshay Jadhav, Rinku Narwal, Shubham Shinde
U.P.Yoddha - Rishank Devadiga (C), Shrikanth Jadhav, Prashanth Kumar Rai, Sagar Krishna, Amit, Nitesh Kumar, Narender
When and where to watch: October 24th at 9:00 pm IST on Star Sports 2; also available on Hot Star