Pro Kabaddi: PKL 2019's top raider Naveen Kumar to feature in today's match

In Match 94 of Pro Kabaddi 2019, Telugu Titans will take on Dabang Delhi at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune on Monday. Telugu Titans have dominated the head to head comparison so far with eight wins in 11 matches. However, when the two teams locked horns in PKL 2019, Dabang Delhi defeated Telugu Titans in a thriller by one point (34-33). Naveen Kumar has scored 14 raid points in the match for Delhi while Chandran Ranjit chipped in with 6 raid points. It will be interesting to see how today’s match unfold given Delhi are table-toppers now while Titans are stationed at 11th position in Pro Kabaddi 2019 team standings.

Check Pro Kabaddi points table and schedule here
 
Siddharth Desai vs Naveen Kumar: Two raiders enjoying contrasting fortunes in their second season
 
Siddharth Desai and Naveen Kumar both made an immediate impact in their debut season (PKL 2018). But their second seasons have gone very differently. Siddharth Desai has not matched the heights he reached last season. Meanwhile, Naveen Kumar has already gone better than what he managed last season and is close to reaching 200 raid points for the first time in a season. There was nothing much to choose between the two raiders last season with Siddharth scoring 218 raid points and Naveen finishing with 172. But this season Naveen has already scored 70 raid points more and 11 more Super 10s than Siddharth.
 

Siddharth Desai vs. Naveen Kumar – PKL
PKL 6		Vs	PKL 7
Siddharth Desai	Naveen Kumar		Siddharth Desai	Naveen Kumar
21	22	Matches	14	15
218	172	Raid Points	113	185
10.4	7.8	Avg. Raid Pts.	8.1	12.3
12	8	Super 10s	3	14
68	56	Raid SR	55	61

 

It can be argued in favour of Siddharth that his usage has been a lot less than some of the top raiders of, including Naveen. Since Telugu Titans play a more controlled game than some of the top raiding teams, Siddharth has taken only 35% of the team’s raids.
 
 

Siddharth Desai vs PKL 2019's Top 3 Raiders
Raider	Total Raids by Team	Total Raids by Raider	% of Team’s Raids
Pawan Sehrawat (BLR)	670	294	44%
Naveen Kumar (DEL)	605	302	50%
Pardeep Narwal (PAT)	677	317	47%
Siddharth Desai (HYD)	577	204	35%

 

Naveen Kumar has a double century in his sights

With 185 raid points to his name, Naveen is just 15 away from reaching the 200 raid point mark in a season for the first time in his career.  He is currently averaging just over 12 raid points per game, so it is very much a possibility that he could complete it in today’s match. Pardeep Narwal in PKL 5 (15th match) and Pawan Sehrawat this season (16th match) have been the fastest to reach 200 raid points in a season. If Naveen completes it in today’s match, he will match Pawan’s record.

 

Fastest to 200 Raid Points In a Season
Raider	Season	Matches
Pardeep Narwal	PKL 5	15
Pawan Sehrawat	PKL 2019	16
Naveen Kumar	PKL 2019	16 (If he scores 15 raid points today)

 

He is on a run of 13 consecutive Super 10s, which is the most by any raider in the history of PKL. He has been one of the most consistent raiders this season as seen from the fact that he has 14 Super 10s from his 15 matches. His lowest score in a match has been 7 raid points.

Most Consecutive SUPER 10s – PKL (in a Season)
	Season	No. of Consecutive Matches
Naveen Kumar	PKL 7	13*
Pardeep Narwal	PKL 5	8
Deepak Hooda	PKL 6	6

 

PLAYER HEAD-TO-HEAD
(All figures overall PKL; figure in brackets shows since PKL 6)

• Siddharth Desai (HYD) 5 – 4 Ravinder Pahal (DEL) [all since PKL 6]
• Siddharth Desai (HYD) 6 – 1 Vishal Mane (DEL) [all since PKL 6]
• Siddharth Desai (HYD) 6 – 4 Joginder Narwal (DEL) [all since PKL 6]
• Chandran Ranjit (DEL) 2 – 3 Vishal Bhardwaj (HYD) [all since PKL 6]
• Meraj Sheykh (DEL) 3 – 1 Abozar Mighani (HYD) [2-1 since PKL 6]
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