PKL5 Match 122 preview: Puneri Paltan v Gujarat Fortunegiants

Date: 13th October
Time: 8PM IST (3:30PM BST)
Venue: Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune
Zone: A

Form

The first game of the night is a zone A match between Puneri Paltan and Gujarat Fortunegiants. A win for Pune would really close the gap to the top whilst a win for Gujarat all but secures their top spot.

Puneri Paltan: WLWWW
Gujarat Fortunegiants: WWWWL
(last 5 games most recent first, W = won, D = draw, L = lost)

Match Prediction

Puneri Paltan had hit top form but had a slight blip against Bengal Warriors. Nonetheless they have won 6 out of the last 7 matches and have already secured their place into the play offs. The only question remains is whether they can finish top or not, a win for Pune would be huge, whilst a loss would leave Pune needing to win all their games to finish top. We can safely call this a 10 points game, since their can be a 5 point swing in either direction, its a big game!

Gujarat Fortunegiants have hit form at a crucial part of the season winning 4 games on the bounce, they will look to consolidate their top spot with a win over Pune. Finishing top gives the side a big advantage since you get two chances to reach the final, whereas if you come second or third one loss and you are out.

The impressive Gujarat defence is the key to this game, how will the likes of Deepak Niwas Hooda and Rajesh Mondal raid against this defence and will they be successful. These two sides played very early on in the season in which Gujarat came out on top. I think the home pressure will get to Pune and the Gujarat defence will stay resolute and they will win.

Prediction: Puneri Paltan 30-35 Gujarat Fortunegiants

Players to watch

  • For Puneri Paltan their best raider is Deepak Niwas Hooda, he has 107 raid points in 16 matches.
  • In defence watch out for Girish Ernak and Sandeep Narwal, both are aggressive and strong tacklers, they have 44 and 46 tackle points this season respectively.
  • For Gujarat Fortunegiants raider Sachin has been great all season scoring 130 points in 20 matches.
  • In defence the two Iranian corners Abozar and Fazel have been fantastic, they have 58 and 53 tackle points respectively.

Team News and Predicted Line-ups

Puneri Paltan have a settled line up and Deepak Niwas Hooda and Rajesh Mondal will lead the raiding for their side. The corner defenders will most likely be Girish Ernak and Sandeep Narwal, and the cover defenders will be Ravi Kumar and Ziaur Rahman. The third raider will most likely go to Monu.

Gujarat also have a settled lineup, and the defence will consist of Fazel, Abozar, Parvesh and Sunil. The raiders are a little more difficult to pin point, but I would think that Sachin and Chandran Ranjit will lead the lineup, and then the third raiding position would be between Sukesh Hegde and Rohit Gulia. Mahendra Rajput is also a possibility but he will most likely come from the bench.

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

Gujarat Fortunegiants: Fazel Atrachali (✈️), Sukesh Hegde (C), Abozar Mighani (✈️), Sachin, Chandran Ranjit, Sunil Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal.

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 all rounder Deepak Niwas Hooda and raider Chandran Ranjit.
  • In defence I’d suggest picking two of either Fazel, Abozar, or Girish Ernak.
  • For the differential players you might want to consider Rajesh Mondal, Sunil Kumar, Parvesh Bhainswal.
  • Rajesh scored a total of 10 points in his last match and will look to continue his form, Sunil scored 4 tackle points last time around and Parvesh is well capable of getting a high five himself.
  • I suggest going for 1 or 2 all rounders with 3 or 2 raiders respectively.

Money is an issue with this match however I’ve gone with Chandran Ranjit and Sachin as my raiders and Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sandeep Narwal as my all rounders and Fazel, Abozar and Rinku Narwal as my defenders. Rinku is a throwaway option as I looked to put in as many key players as I could. My captain is Deepak Niwas Hooda and Sachin is my vice captain.

Alternatively you can drop Sandeep Narwal, and pick raider Rajesh Mondal and upgrade Rinku Narwal to Ravi Kumar or Parvesh Bhainswal.

Another alternative is to drop Sachin and bring in Rajesh Mondal which allows you to swap Rinku Narwal for Monu, but I wouldn’t recommend this.

A final alternative is to drop Sachin for Monu and then swap Rinku Narwal with Girish Ernak. This gives a lot more balance to the side but is slightly weak on the raiding side.

So there is 4 options to choose from.

SPKabaddi’s seven: Deepak Niwas Hooda (C), Sachin (VC), Sandeep Narwal, Chandran Ranjit, Fazel Atrachali, Abozar Mighani, Rinku Narwal.