Pro Kabaddi 2019: Can Haryana's defenders put brakes on Jaipur's raiders?

In Match 18 of VIVO Pro Kabaddi League, PKL 2019, Haryana Steelers will take on Jaipur Pink Panthers at Sardar Vallabbhai Patel Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday. Steelers will look to bounce back after a tough loss against Dabang Delhi in their previous match while Pin Panthers look to continue their dominating form in Pro Kabaddi 2019. Haryana has been affected in their raiding department as raiders – Prashanth Kumar Rai and Vikas Kandola -- are not fit. Naveen was the silver lining for Haryana in the match against Delhi with nine points. He will be looking to continue his good form against Jaipur. The raider expressed that the team will play better against Jaipur. “This will carry on in the tournament, sometimes we will win, sometimes we will lose. Now we will raise our confidence and play better against Jaipur Pink Panthers,” said Naveen.
 
Check Pro Kabaddi schedule and points table here
 
What can coach Rakesh Kumar do to take pressure off Naveen?
 
Rakesh Kumar had a happy coaching debut when his Haryana Steelers team were able to beat Anup Kumar’s Puneri Paltan 34-24 in their first game. In that match, both teams were without their star raiders – Pune without Nitin Tomar and Haryana without Vikas Kandola or Prashanth Kumar Rai. Haryana’s raiders led by Naveen were able to shine that day, but against Dabang Delhi’s powerful raiding unit of Naveen Kumar, Chandran Ranjit and Meraj Sheykh, Haryana couldn’t keep up and they ended up losing by 20 points.
 
Now the challenge for Rakesh is how to create a balanced raiding unit. One option could be to use Selvamani more in the Do or Die raids as he has been good in his career in these situations. Among all raiders in the team he actually has the best raid strike rate in do or die situations.

Haryana Steelers Raiders in DoD Situations – PKL
Raider	Raids	Raid Points	Super Raids	Raid SR
Selvamani K	78	62	2	79
Prashanth Kumar Rai	84	63	4	75
Naveen	35	23	0	66
Vikas Kandola	73	39	1	53

 

 Deepak Hooda and Deepak Narwal boost Jaipur’s raiding unit

One of Jaipur’s advantage in Pro Kabaddi 2019 is the raiding depth in the team led by skipper Deepak Hooda. Deepak Hooda is 4th in the most raid points scored with 727 raid points in Pro Kabaddi. He is supported by Deepak Narwal and Nilesh Salunke who also have scored more than 250 raid points each. In the first two matches in PKL 2019, Deepak Hooda has started off strong by scoring 17 raid points at a raid strike rate of 55. He has been supported by Deepak Narwal who has been consistent scoring at a raid point average of 5 in Pro Kabaddi 2019. Deepak Hooda scored his 25th Super 10 in the first match against U Mumba scoring 11 points in 15 raids. He has had just 2 unsuccessful raids so far out of which 1 was a Do or Die raid.

Jaipur’s Main Raiders – PKL 2019
Raider	Matches	Raid Points	Avg. Raid Pts.	Raid SR
Deepak Hooda	2	17	8.5	55
Deepak Narwal	2	10	5.0	38

 

Haryana Steelers vs Jaipur Pink Panthers head to head

Jaipur Pink Panthers have a slight edge over Haryana Steelers as they have won three out of six matches while one ended in a tie.

Match No.	Haryana Steelers	Jaipur Pink Panthers	Result
PKL 6, Match 118	30	39	Jaipur Pink Panthers won by 9 points
PKL 6, Match 50	32	38	Jaipur Pink Panthers won by 6 points
PKL 6, Match 18	33	36	Jaipur Pink Panthers won by 3 points
PKL 5, Match 120	37	27	Haryana Steelers won by 10 points
PKL 5, Match 87	30	26	Haryana Steelers won by 4 points
PKL 5, Match 77	27	27	Match Tied

 

Haryana Steelers vs Jaipur Pink Panthers probable starting seven 
 

Haryana Steelers	Vs	Jaipur Pink Panthers
Dharmaraj Cheralathan ©	Right Corner	Amit Hooda
Selvamani K	Right In	Deepak Narwal
Vikas Kale	Right Cover	Sunil Siddhgavali
Naveen	Center	Deepak Hooda ©
Parveen	Left Cover	Vishal
Vinay	Left In	Nilesh Salunke
Kuldeep Singh	Left Corner	Sandeep Dhull