PKL5 Match 100 preview: Tamil Thalaivas v Puneri Paltan

Date: 29th September
Time: 8PM IST (3:30PM BST)
Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai
Zone: Interzonal B v A

Form

The first game of the night is an interzonal match between home side Tamil Thalaivas and Puneri Paltan. Both teams are on winning form but who will carry on their streak in this match?

Tamil Thalaivas: WWLWL
Puneri Paltan: WWWLL
(last 5 games most recent first, W = won, D = draw, L = lost)

Match Prediction

Tamil Thalaivas have been unlucky this season because in many of their losses they have only lost by a couple of points. But finally they are scoring some wins, mainly thanks to Ajay Thakur who has been in the form of his life, in both of the last two matches he has scored a 2 point raid in the final raid to take victory from the jaws of defeat. However the rest of the players have also improved massively and the team are on the up.

Puneri Paltan are starting to play to their potential after picking up 3 victories in a row, largely thanks to the duo of Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sandeep Narwal. Together they have scored 46 points in the last 3 matches and helped Pune to victory in each of them. The rest of the defence is performing well and Rajesh Mondal has done a great job scoring raid points in the do or die raids.

Pune have to find a way of stopping Ajay Thakur, and so Girish Ernak has a big job to do in the left corner but he is more than capable. Meanwhile Sandeep Narwal will have to deal with K. Prapanjan, but again I think the Pune defence are good enough to stop them, hence I’m going for a Pune win.

Prediction: Tamil Thalaivas 32-35 Puneri Paltan

Players to watch

  • For Tamil Thalaivas raider Ajay Thakur is on form and leading by example scoring points at will recently, he has 96 raid points in just 13 matches.
  • In defence C. Arun is doing really well scoring 10 tackle points in 2 matches but Amit Hooda has the better tackle point per game ratio at 3.31.
  • For Puneri Paltan Deepak Niwas Hooda is a great raider to watch for young people trying to become better.
  • In defence Girish Ernak and Sandeep Narwal have been playing really well getting the tackles in.

Team News and Predicted Line-ups

Tamil Thalaivas have been chopping and changing their side a lot, however certain starters include Ajay Thakur and K. Prapanjan as the raiders and Amit Hooda and C. Arun in defence. It looks like Vineet Kumar might take the third raiding role and the other two defenders could go to either of Sanket Chavan, D. Pradap and Darshan J.

Puneri Paltan also like to chop and change but Deepak Niwas Hooda and Rajesh Mondal are certain to lead the raiding lineup with Sandeep Narwal, Girish Ernak and Ziaur Rahman in defence. The final defensive position could go to Monu with the final raiding position to either Ravi Kumar or Rohit Kumar Choudhary.

Tamil Thalaivas: Amit Hooda, Ajay Thakur (C), K Prapanjan, C. Arun, Vineet Kumar Darshan J., Sanket Chavan.

Puneri Paltan: Ravi Kumar, Deepak Niwas Hooda (C), Sandeep Narwal, Girish Ernak, Monu, Ziaur Rahman (✈️), Rajesh Mondal.

Dream11 Fantasy Picks

This new section is just my picks for the Dream11 fantasy game, if a player doesn’t do well then don’t hold me accountable because it is just an opinion! If you haven’t already check out my Dream11 Fantasy Kabaddi Tips first before reading below.

  • Definite players to pick for this match are probably raiders Ajay Thakur and Deepak Niwas Hooda, Deepak is actually listed as an all rounder in the game.
  • In defence I’d suggest picking two of either C. Arun, Amit Hooda, Girish Ernak.
  • For the differential players you might want to consider K. Prapanjan, Rajesh Mondal or Monu, K. Prapanjan is inconsistent but he is capable of picking up a lot or raid points, similarly for Rajesh Mondal. With Rajesh he has got super 10s in the past, and Monu is an outside bet but he comes on to great effect scoring raid points and tackle points.
  • Both Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sandeep Narwal are listed as all rounders so you could just go for 2 raiders rather than 3, and then have 3 defenders.

You are very limited with money for this game since picking Ajay Thakur, Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sandeep Narwal leaves you with very little funds. But you can manage to put all 3 in at the expense of the other players, since you have to take a punt on Monu, Darshan J. and Ziaur Rahman. With Rajesh Mondal as your 3rd raider.

Alternatively by dropping Sandeep Narwal for C. Arun you can upgrade Rajesh Mondal to K. Prapanjan, and then swap Ziaur Rahman with Girish Ernak and then bring in C. Arun as a third defender. I think this is the better option and so I’m going for this 7.

In both cases I’m taking a risk with Monu and Darshan but I feel it is one worth taking, in any case Ajay Thakur is my captain and Deepak Niwas Hooda is my vice captain.

SPKabaddi’s seven: Ajay Thakur (C), Deepak Niwas Hooda (VC), Darshan J., Monu, Girish Ernak, K. Prapanjan, C. Arun.