Record favours Patna Pirates, while form favours Bengaluru Bulls in Match 42

After losing three straight games in their home leg, following an early victory over Jaipur Pink Panthers, Patna Pirates will want to get their home campaign back on track for their two remaining games, starting with their game against Bengaluru Bulls on Wednesday. They have a good record against Bengaluru Bulls, having beaten them 9 times in their 12 encounters so far. They have an unbeaten record in their previous three meets, having won two and tied one of them.

But based on current form, Bengaluru Bulls will have an edge as they have won three of the four games they have played this season and are coming off an 8-point win against Haryana Steelers, a team that defeated Patna Pirates by 11 points this season.

Match 42 (Zone B): Patna Pirates vs Bengaluru Bulls

Head-to-head: Patna Pirates 9 – 2 Bengaluru Bulls. 1 tie.

Patna Pirates were beaten convincingly by Telugu Titans in their previous encounter after facing a sturdy defensive showing. But Vikas Jaglan managed to impress in that game, scoring 9 raid points and emerging as the team’s highest scoring raider. Tushar Patil, too, got a look-in and scored 4 points in two successful raids. Their defenders scored just 6 tackle points, though, and will have to improve on that when they face a raid-heavy Bengaluru Bulls with Rohit Kumar, Kashiling Adake and Pawan Kumar Sehrawat in their ranks.

A 20-raid-point effort from Pawan Kumar Sehrawat saw Bengaluru Bulls beat Haryana Steelers 42-34 in their previous encounter. However, while they managed 29 raid points as a team in that match, only 7 tackle points were scored by their defenders. Their most successful defender was Mahender Singh with 2 tackle points. While their raiding unit is strong, they will want the defenders to get back their form as well, especially when facing the Dubki King Pardeep Narwal.

The big battle

Pardeep Narwal vs Mahender Singh

Pardeep Narwal holds an edge over Bengaluru Bulls’ Left Cover defender Mahender Singh, having conceded just 2 tackle points while picking up 9 raid points in 10 tackle attempts so far. While this augurs well for Narwal, for Singh, who has just 9 tackle points in 4 games so far, this is a good chance to set the record straight since his team is in good form and he will be high on confidence when taking on Patna Pirates this time around.

Key Khiladi

Patna Pirates – Vikas Jaglan

Vikas Jaglan was a key figure in Patna Pirates’ match against Telugu Titans. While Narwal was able to manage just 4 points, Jaglan took over in the raiding department and returned 9 raid points from the encounter. He also has 2 tackle points this season and 10 assists, which goes to show how much of a contribution his presence on the mat can make to the team’s cause.

Pawan Kumar Sehrawat – Bengaluru Bulls

Coming off a successful 20-raid-point effort in his team’s previous game Pawan Kumar Sehrawat is in red-hot form. He is currently averaging 15 raid points per game for his team this season at a raid strike rate of 96.77. He has also spent only 35 minutes off the court overall in his team’s matches so far, which makes him a very dependable raider.