Kabaddi Masters: Confident India eye top spot in Group A (Preview)

India will aim to continue their winning momentum and secure the top spot in Group A when they face arch rivals Pakistan in their third match of the Kabaddi Masters at the Al Wasl Sports Club here on Monday.

Having won both their previous matches against Pakistan and newbies Kenya, the Indians' spirits are high as their raiders as well as defenders have made things look easier on the mat.

In the first game against Pakistan, the Ajay Thakur-led Indian team started off sensibly, gauging the weakness and strength of their opponents in the initial minutes before thrashing them by notching up a tsunami of points.

The second game against Kenya also went the same way when Indian raiders Rishank and Monu Goyat along with defenders put Kenya on mat and won by a huge margin.

India took full advantage of both team's weakness. The strategy of first gauging their strengths and weaknesses paid off really well.

In the upcoming match India will try the same tricks as two more raiders joined the Pakistan squad for the crucial tie.

The Pakistanis were without their two star raiders in the last match which might have helped the men in blue to outplay them in the tournament opener.

The Pakistan coach also mentioned this in the post match press conference that they were without their full team in the previous encounter against India. Two of their raiders failed to make it to Dubai due to visa problems.

Pakistan, who are good at defence, would like to change their strategy of not attacking the players.

Their left and right corners were sitting out of the match most of the time in the first match. They need to find the right combination in the next game if they want to beat India.

This point was also highlighted by Indian coach Srinivas Reddy that if they remove their two corners, their defence can be broken. India did that in the opening match.

India are the clear favourites in their third match. But the fans could also witness an upset if Pakistan play to their strengths.

(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.sharma@ians.in)

--IANS

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