Patna Pirates are currently the only undefeated side in the Pro Kabaddi League 2016 and the last time the two sides met, the Pirates got past the Warriors with a five-point margin win in Kolkata. Will it be time for revenge from the Bengal Warriors this time around?
Bengal Warriors have lost twice this season — against Patna Pirates and defending champions U Mumba — but they still occupy the second place in the table as the teams play seven more games in the regular league season to make it to the playoffs by making it to the top four.
The Pirates are on 33 points, while the Warriors stay on 26 points at the moment. On-paper, the home team look the clear favourites as they are not only on an inspirational winning run this season, but they are also at home.
Patna Pirates play a total of four matches at home this season and the next few games hold immense importance in the progress of the team to the playoffs.
Bengal Warriors too have to shrug off their curse of mellowing down mid-season in the Pro Kabaddi to make it to the playoffs this year. The Kolkata side have never been able to finish in the top four in the previous two seasons of the competition.
Squads: Patna Pirates – Manpreet Singh (C), Sandeep Narwal, Abhinandan Kumar, Bhabesh Kumar, Deepak Narwal, Gurvinder Singh, G Singh, M Narwal, Rajesh Mondal, Sunil Jaipal, Vijay Malik, Suresh Kumar, Manish, Amit Hooda, Ram Sah, Vinod Kumar, Nasir Ali, Sandeep, Sunil Kumar, Hadi Oshtorak, Tae Deok Eom.
