The Jaipur leg is set to get underway at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Friday with an action-packed line-up that will witness Jaipur Pink Panthers taking on Gujarat Fortunegiants in Zone A, after which another side from the zone Puneri Paltan will face second-placed Bengal Warriors from Zone B in the first of six inter-zone wildcard matches.

Match 111 (Zone A): Jaipur Pink Panthers vs Gujarat Fortunegiants

Head-to-head: Jaipur Pink Panthers 1-1 Gujarat Fortunegiants

The Panthers will need to make a good start to their home leg and will be looking at Pawan Kumar in attack, who is their leading raider this season with 92 raid points. He managed 13 raid points in his side’s last encounter which they narrowly lost to Bengal Warriors. Jaipur will also hope for a return of Jasvir Singh from injury, who along with captain Manjeet Chhillar, will be tasked with guiding the hosts to a winning start in the Pink City.

However, they will be up against a confident Gujarat side, who are currently perched at the summit of Zone A - a well-rounded outfit that has clicked in both attack and defence. Youngster Sachin is their most productive raider with 121 points in attack, while Abozar Mighani leads the way for the Fortunegiants in defence with 52 tackle points. The recent emergence of Chandran Ranjit has also shown that he will be another threat to Jaipur when Gujarat raid.

Khel Kabaddi Khiladi:

Pawan Kumar

Pawan Kumar has been Jaipur’s go-to man in attack this year having completed 70 successful raids so far. He has also managed two super raids for Jaipur.

Sachin

Sachin once again demonstrated his class for Gujarat in their last match as he has done all season. He has completed 98 successful raids and will be looking to add to that tally.

Match 112 (Inter Zone Wildcard Match) Puneri Paltan vs Bengal Warriors

Head-to-head: Puneri Paltan 5-3 Bengal Warriors. 1 tie

Meanwhile, Puneri Paltan will be eyeing their sixth win in a row against a Bengal team that will enter the contest on the back of a thrilling last-gasp win against U.P Yoddha. Pune have looked in ominous form this season with the entire side functioning like a well-oiled machine and will be in search of a 12th win from 15 matches. All-rounder Sandeep Narwal has had a massive influence along with the likes of captain Deepak Hooda and do-or-die specialist Rajesh Mondal.

The Warriors, on the other hand, won’t be intimidated by the task at hand. Their strong raiding trio of Maninder singh, Deepak Narwal and Jang Kun Lee has troubled the best of defences this year and will keep Pune’s defenders on their toes. They will, however, need to be more decisive in defence since skipper Surjeet Singh and Ran Singh have been culpable of rash tackles in the recent past.

Khel Kabaddi Khiladi:

Maninder Singh

Maninder Singh has been in tremendous form for Bengal and is sixth in the leaderboard for raiders with 155 raid points. He has also managed seven Super 10s for his side this season.

Deepak Hooda

Captain Deepak Hooda will be in a buoyant mood after an enjoyable outing last time around that saw him bag a game-high 17 points. He is a threat both in attack as well as defence.

Catch the action live on the Star Sports network and hotstar from 7.30 pm onwards.