Bengal Warriors battle Tamil Thalaivas as both look to bounce back from recent losses

The sole fixture on the penultimate day of the Delhi leg sees Bengal Warriors take on Tamil Thalaivas at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex on Thursday. While Bengal Warriors will be looking to climb to the second spot in the vivo Pro Kabaddi standings, Tamil Thalaivas will be aiming to enter the top 6 with a victory.

Match 64: Bengal Warriors vs. Tamil Thalaivas

Head-to-head:

Bengal Warriors

Played: 10

Won: 5

Tied: 2

Lost: 3

Win Rate: 50%

Best Raider: Maninder Singh

Best Defender: Baldev Singh

At the conclusion of Delhi leg, Bengal Warriors could find themselves as high as the second spot in the Season 7 standings. Through their 10 matches so far, Bengal Warriors have looked amongst the better teams in the league and also boast of the best score difference. The key to their success has been the form of their raiding trifecta of skipper Maninder Singh, K. Prapanjan and Iranian Mohammad Nabibakhsh. The trio has scored 191 raid points this season; a tally higher than all but two teams. While they lead the league in average raid points, they are second from bottom in average tackle points and that has been an area of concern this season. In their three losses this season, the defence has averaged a meagre 7.15 tackle points. However, the roster does boast of some excellent defenders in Jeeva Kumar, Rinku Narwal and Baldev Singh and, if the defence holds their own, Bengal Warriors are going to be a big challenge on the mat. 

Tamil Thalaivas

Played: 10

Won: 3

Tied: 2

Lost: 5

Win Rate: 30%

Best Raider: Rahul Chaudhari

Best Defender: Mohit Chhillar

After enduring a slump in their home leg, which saw them fail to win any of their games, Tamil Thalaivas will be eager to return to winning ways against Bengal Warriors. The southerners are currently languishing in the bottom half of the standings and need a win to turn their season around. They will take encouragement from their form on the road this year and will want skipper ’Iceman’ Ajay Thakur to rise to the challenge alongside ‘Showman’ Rahul Chaudhari - who is their leading raid point scorer (64) this season. V Ajith Kumar is another raider who has shown his quality in the side’s last few games and will be keen to have an impact against Bengal Warriors as well. In defence, Mohit Chhillar has gotten better with each passing game and is currently their leading tackle point scorer (27). He’ll have support in Ran Singh and will also hope that Manjeet Chhillar returns to the mat after spending the last few matches on the sidelines.