Bengal Warriors
Mohammad Nabibakhsh pulled off one of the most remarkable wins in the history of the PKL against Puneri Paltan in the previous match. Trailing by four points with less than a minute to go and the last possible raid for his side, Nabibakhsh came up with a five-point super-raid that shook the entire stadium.
The Bengal Warriors have more Super Raids than any other side in PKL 2019 and are very dangerous on the mat. Unlike other sides where one raider has dominated the point scoring, all three of the Bengal Warriors raiders have played an important role in the raiding department.
Maninder Singh, Mohammad Nabibakhsh, and K Prapanajan are going to test the strong U Mumba defense for sure. Jeeva Kumar and Baldev Singh will be leading the defense for the Bengal Warriors against anything that U Mumba throws at them.
The home side is going to full of energy going into its penultimate home game and look to feed off a vociferous home crowd once more.
U Mumba
U Mumba has started to put together an important sequence of wins in this second half of the PKL and knows how important winning this game is. A loss here is going to leave the door wide open for UP Yoddha and the Jaipur Pink Panthers to go past U Mumba into the qualification zone.
A lack of consistency has hurt U Mumba this season. They have not been able to put together two consecutive wins in PKL 2019, which is staggering at this late stage in the tournament.
It is going to be hard for U Mumba to remain abreast with the Bengal Warriors in the raiding department. Arjun Deshwal and Abhishek Singh are going to have to play out of their skins to get enough points on the board against a solid Bengal Warriors defense.
U Mumba’s defense is very strong and this is why the onus of creating pressure will fall on them. If Fazel Atrachali, Surinder Singh, and Sandeep Narwal are able to stop the Bengal Warriors raiders from scoring freely then U Mumba may have a chance.
Surinder Singh has been the most successful defender for U Mumba so far but it could be Sandeep Narwal’s brute force and aggression that makes the difference in this match.
U Mumba holds a massive 10-3 advantage over the Bengal Warriors when it comes to head to head matches. No team has a better points difference than the Bengal Warriors showcasing the kind of effect its raiders have had in PKL 2019.
The Bengal Warriors are playing at home and have the better offensive unit but we think U Mumba’s defense is going to give them a tough contest.
Bet on Bengal Warriors to win.