Pro Kabaddi 2019 preview: Bengal raiding unit to test Pune's defence

Bengal Warriors are still the only team to have three raiders with at least 50 raid points so far in PKL 2019

In Match 81 of Pro Kabaddi 2019, Bengal Warriors will lock horns with Puneri Paltan at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday. This match will feature an encounter between former teammates (Surjeet Singh and Maninder Singh played for Bengal last season). In Pro Kabaddi 2019, Surjeet Singh is playing for Puneri Paltan while Maninder Singh is still playing and leading Bengal Warriors side.

Check Pro Kabaddi points table and schedule here
 
Warriors raiding unit to test Pune’s defence
 
One of the best raiding units of PKL 7 in Bengal Warriors will take on one of the best defensive teams in Puneri Paltan. Bengal Warriors have the 3rd highest raid point average in the league while Puneri Paltan have the joint-best tackle point average.
 

Highest Raid Point Average – PKL 7			Highest Tackle Point Average – PKL 7
Team	Avg. Raid Pts.		Team	Avg. Tackle Pts.
Dabang Delhi	19.9		Puneri Paltan	11.2
Bengaluru Bulls	19.6		Jaipur Pink Panthers	11.2
Bengal Warriors	19.2		Bengaluru Bulls/U.P. Yoddha/Telugu Titans	10.5

 

The match will also see a clash between Maninder Singh, the current captain of Bengal Warriors, and Surjeet Singh, the former captain of Bengal Warriors. The two played 2 seasons together at Bengal (PKL 5 & PKL 6) before Surjeet moved to Pune this season. Maninder is the lead raider for Bengal while Surjeet leads the Pune defence.

Bengal Warriors Top Raiders – PKL 7				Puneri Paltan Top Defenders – PKL 7
Raider	Raid Points	Avg. Raid Pts.		Defender	Tackle Points	Avg. Tackle Pts.
Maninder Singh	104	8.0		Surjeet Singh	32	2.5
K. Prapanjan	81	6.2		Manjeet	20	1.5
Mohammad Nabibakhsh	52	4.0		Jadhav Shahaji	20	2.0

 

Bengal Warriors raiders maximizing touch points

Bengal Warriors are still the only team to have three raiders with at least 50 raid points so far this season. What has been impressive about them is that they are maximizing touch points and are not reliant on Bonus Points.  Even Prapanjan, who has picked up the most Bonus Points has 78 per cent of his raid points from touch points.

Bengal Warriors Raiding Trio – PKL 7
Raider	Touch Points	Bonus Points	Touch Point %
Maninder Singh	87	17	84%
K. Prapanjan	63	18	78%
Mohammad Nabibakhsh	47	5	90%

 

All 3 raiders have also minimised the number of times they are tackled in a match. As a result, Bengal Warriors have the 2nd lowest raid failure rate among all teams.

Lowest Raid Failure percentage - PKL 7
Team	Raid Failure %
Dabang Delhi	19.7%
Bengal Warriors	19.8%
Haryana Steelers	21.1%

 

Player Head-To-Head

(All figures overall PKL; figure in brackets shows since PKL 6)

• Maninder Singh (KOL) 7 – 5 Girish Ernak (PUN) [2 – 1 since PKL 6]
• K Prapanjan (KOL) 5 – 1 Surjeet Singh (PUN) [2 – 0 since PKL 6]
• K Prapanjan (KOL) 2 – 5 Girish Ernak (PUN) [1 – 3 in PKL 6]
• Pawan Kadian (PUN) 3 – 1 Jeeva Kumar (KOL)
• Manjeet (PUN) 2 – 3 Jeeva Kumar (KOL) [All since PKL 6]
• Nitin Tomar (PUN) 3 – 1 Jeeva Kumar (KOL)