Jaipur Pink Panthers
The Jaipur Pink Panthers were the underdogs in their match against U Mumba and seemed to revel in that position. Deepak Hooda scored 11 raid points and combined brilliantly with Nitin and Deepak Rawal to rip apart the strong U Mumba defense.
The result was a 19 point thumping win for the Jaipur Pink Panthers that will ensure that no one in the league takes them lightly again.
Amit Hooda was the leader of the defense as he also contributed with a High-5 in the opening match. We don’t think the Jaipur Pink Panthers offense is going to be overawed by the Bengal Warriors but we definitely think that Amit Hooda and the rest of the defense will have to work harder in this match.
They are up against a very strong raiding side with perhaps the flavor of the month in their raiding department. If Hooda and co can neutralize the threat posed by Maninder Singh and Mohammad Nabibakhsh then the game is there for the taking.
Bengal Warriors
We are not sure of what to expect from the Bengal Warriors in their opening match against UP Yoddha. There were some new faces in the side and a lot of reshuffling of players which can throw the balance off for any team but the Bengal Warriors looked perfectly in sync from the word go.
Maninder Singh has a worthy ally in Mohammad Nabibakhsh this season. The Iranian has been heralded as the next big thing in PKL and he started with a bang to justify the hype. His Super-10 in his PKL debut alongside the 9 points scored by Maninder was more than enough to secure an easy victory for the Bengal Warriors.
It must be remembered that UP Yoddha has not been at its best and there were some big holes in the defense to take advantage. The Jaipur Pink Panthers are going to be a lot tighter and make the raiders work harder for their points.
The Bengal Warriors defense is completely revamped and there were some big shoes to fill for the defensive unit. Baldev Singh and Rinku Narwal started impressively and showed that the Bengal Warriors are going to be a force to reckon with on both ends of the mat.
We love the balance and fluidity that the Bengal Warriors possess at this stage and we think they are shaping up to be one of the sides to watch in PKL 2019.
The Bengal Warriors have won 8 out of the 13 matches between the two sides with the Jaipur Pink Panthers winning the remaining 5. There have been no ties between the two sides up until now.
The Bengal Warriors have impressed us with their speed and agility on the mat this season. This is going to be a tough contest between two very good sides but more depth in the raiding unit and a better defensive unit should help the Bengal Warriors end up winners.
Bet on the Bengal Warriors to win.