PKL 2018: Can Titans' Abozar Mighani stop Patna's top raider Pardeep Narwal

In Match 23 of VIVO Pro Kabaddi League (PKL 2018) season six, Pardeep Narwal’s Patna Pirates will lock horns with Telugu Titans led by Vishal Bhardwaj at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune. In the 12 matches played between the two teams in PKL history, Patna and Hyderabad both won 6 matches each. However, in PKL 5, the Patna Pirates completed a clean sweep against Telugu Titans, winning all 3 matches that they played. Since the arrival of Pardeep Narwal at Patna Pirates in Season 3, it is Patna that leads the head-to-head 5-2. Telugu Titans star raider Rahul Chaudhari is 14 raid points away from becoming the first raider in Pro Kabaddi League history to reach 700 raid points.

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Player Battle: Pardeep Narwal (Patna Pirates) vs Rahul Chaudhari (Telugu Titans)
 
In today's Pro Kabaddi 2018 match, the top two raiders in PKL history, Pardeep Narwal and Rahul Chaudhari will face off against each other. Rahul Chaudhari currently leads as the top raider in PKL history with 686 raid points to his name from 84 games while Pardeep Narwal is not far behind in second with 666 raid points from just 67 games. These two raiders also hold the record for most career Super 10s in PKL with 32 such outings so far for both of them. Rahul Chaudhari (HYD) has a chance to take the lead again with his next Super 10, but if Pardeep Narwal (PAT) gets one before him, he will take the lead in this category for the very first time. Pardeep Narwal (PAT) has had an amazing start to season 6 with 41 raid points from his first 3 games and has scored a Super 10 in every game. In comparison, Rahul Chaudhari (HYD) has been very subdued so far in PKL 6. He has only 20 raid points from his 3 matches without a single Super 10. This is the longest wait for Rahul Chaudhari to get to his first Super 10 in any season as he has never gone more than three games without a Super 10. Rahul Chaudhari’s average raid points per game and strike rate are both well below that of his overall PKL career. Both raiders have good records against each other’s teams - Pardeep Narwal (PAT) has been very good versus Telugu Titans averaging 12.7 raid points a game, while Pardeep averages 9 raid pts per game
 
Patna Pirates Team News

Despite having a raider of the quality of Pardeep Narwal, Patna Pirates’ ability to win a match rests on their collective performance in defence. Patna Pirates average of 7 tackle points per game is the lowest by any team in PKL 2018. This was seen in their first game of Pro Kabaddi 2018 where Patna were comprehensively beaten by Tamil Thalaivas (26-42) despite Pardeep scoring 11 raid points. This was because the team scored only 2 tackle points which was their worst in PKL history. In the second and third games, versus UP Yoddha, the defence picked up its game and outscored the Yoddha defence in tackle points which made the difference with raid points being almost equal. Not a single Patna defender has picked up a High 5 in their three matches so far. Patna defence will need to come good again especially because Rahul Chaudhari has a very good record against 2 of their key defenders – Jaideep (6-1) and Kuldeep Singh (12-4).

Telugu Titans
 

The Telugu Titans have one of the best corner combinations in PKL with Vishal Bharadwaj at left corner and Iranian Abozar Mighani at the right corner position. Both were among the top 5 defenders in PKL 5 and this season thanks to their presence, the Titans have not been overly reliant on the raiders for points – for the season they have 43 raid points and 42 tackle points. Even in the defeat against Bengal Warriors, the defence performed well contributing 13 points, but their raiders let them down, contributing just 10 points. Being a left-raider, Pardeep’s line-of-attach is going to be towards Abozar Mighani and the Iranian is leading the head-to-head battle against Pardeep by (Abozar) 5-2 (Pardeep).

Match 23: Patna Pirates vs Telugu Titans match details and live streaming info

Date: October 19, Friday

Time: 8:00 pm (IST)

Venue: Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune

Patna Pirates vs Telugu Titans match will be broadcast on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD in English and Star Sports 1 Hindi and Star Sports 1 HD Hindi in Hindi.

Patna Pirates vs Telugu Titans: Probable seven

Patna Pirates	Vs	Telugu Titans
Jawahar Dagar	Right Corner	Abozar Mighani
Pardeep Narwal ©	Right In	Mohsen Maghsoudlou
Manish	Right Cover	Farhad Milaghardan
Deepak Narwal	Center	Nilesh Salunke
Vikas Kale	Left Cover	Anil Kumar
Manjeet	Left In	Rahul Chaudhari ©
Jaideep	Left Corner	Vishal Bhardwaj