Puneri Paltan
An excellent performance by Puneri Paltan against the Gujarat Fortunegiants helped it start the home leg with a win. Unfortunately, they could not follow up that performance with anything notable and struggled massively against the Patna Pirates.
The defense was powerless against Pardeep Narwal and could manage just eight tackle points in total. That is ten less than what the side managed against Gujarat.
Nitin Tomar was quite poor and Puneri Paltan must consider if it is really worth breaking up a winning combination to accommodate Nitin Tomar anymore. Pankaj Mohita and Manjeet have done quite well for Puneri Paltan in Tomar’s absence, so the side could benefit by playing them as the lead raiders.
Girish Maruti Ernak and Surjeet Singh will need to be at their best and keep a struggling Tamil Thalaivas raiding unit down. Puneri Paltan should not make the mistake of underestimating the Tamil Thalaivas because they have some brilliant raiders in their side.
Tamil Thalaivas
Things continue to get worse for the Tamil Thalaivas and they have now lost their last eight matches. That is just phenomenally poor for a side that is filled with so much talent.
The defense has to take the bulk of the blame as the side has conceded more points than any other side in PKL 2019. Senior players have been squabbling among themselves and there is just no chemistry between the payers on the mat.
Rahul Chaudhari scored a Super-10 in the previous match and kept the Thalaivas in the game for a large part but was let down by the defense once again. What is it that can be done at this late stage in the tournament to change things around?
Maybe giving Ajith Kumar a larger role with an eye towards the future is going to be the way to go.
Either way, we don’t see the Tamil Thalaivas being able to stop this losing run unless their opponents commit hara-kiri.
There have been three matches between the Tamil Thalaivas and Puneri Paltan. Each side has won one match while the remaining was a tie. The Tamil Thalaivas have their previous eight matches and have the worst defensive record in PKL 2019.
We think Puneri Paltan’s raiders will be able to make merry against the Tamil Thalaivas and keep them from ending their losing run. Tamil Thalaivas have some good raiders but are constantly under pressure because they keep giving up touch points.
Bet on Puneri Paltan to win.