PKL 2018 | Defence vs Offence - the story of the PKL Final

PKL 2018 | Defence vs Offence - the story of the PKL Final

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PKL

After almost three months and around 140 matches of breathtaking kabaddi action on the mat, it all boils down to only one game – the grand finale. Bengaluru Bulls and Gujarat Fortunegiants will cross swords in the all important final today to give us a new champion in the history of PKL in Mumbai.

It all started on one fine autumn evening in the month of October in Chennai when the Tamil Thalaivas took on the defending champions Patna Pirates in the inaugural match of the sixth edition of the very popular Pro Kabaddi League. Patna came into the tournament with an aim of making it four in a row as the team from Bihar’s capital has been doing since the third edition of the league. But, who knew that on the judgement day it will be two teams, which never have won the title, locking horns for the coveted silverware. So, this will be a first such season after three long years in the short history of the tournament that it will see a new team lifting the trophy in front of a packed house at the Dome@NSCI, SVP Stadium in Mumbai. 

Bengaluru Bulls will have a slight psychological advantage against Gujarat after winning the qualifier one against them by a huge margin of 41 – 29 points. Meanwhile, the Fortunegiants got the better of UP Yoddha 38-31 to make it to the finals. In three games played between the two finalists so far in PKL history, all three results have been possible as Gujarat and Bengaluru have won one each, one game has ended in a tie as well.  

Both the teams have the experience of playing in the summit clash before but still, then there will be some nervy moments for the players in both the Bengaluru and Gujarat units during the Super Saturday clash.  Bengaluru had managed to make it to the finals in the second season of the league itself but they had to face a defeat by six points against a strong U Mumba side then. On the other hand, the team from Ahmedabad made a great start to its PKL campaign by earning a place in the final in its very first season but the Manpreet Singh-led side faced a heavy defeat against defending champions Patna Pirates in the summit clash last season.

As far as the team composition goes, the Bulls don’t have a single player in the current team who was a part of the runners-up side from 2015 while the Fortunegiants must be happy with the fact that their top raider – Sachin and top defenders – Sunil Kumar and Parvesh Bhainswal are still with them. Pawan Sehrawat, who has gone on to be a revelation in the ongoing season was with the Gujarat unit in the previous one and went to play the final as a substitute and managed to collect a point for them as well. The franchise from the Garden City will want to script history in Mumbai while for the team from the 2016 World Cup venue will want to be there at the right time at the right place to undo the mistakes of last edition’s final. 

 © PKL

When it comes to the mistakes, I think Gujarat will not afford too many in defence as they have one of the best defensive units of the league with some top defenders under the leadership of right cover Sunil Kumar. Players like Parvesh Bhainswal at the left cover position and Ruturaj Koravi at the right corner have impressed with their performance on the mat as well. Sunil and Parvesh make a strong cover combination for the team and the team has succeeded in the games when the cousins have shone on the mat. 

The skipper has affected three High 5s in winning causes for the team while the left cover has done that four times as well. The cover combination has scored 156 tackle points in total which is more than 58% of the total tackle points and this shows how much the team relies on the two. Sachin Vittala and Hadi Oshtorak also have the tackling moves to surprise any top raider in the world and this might prove really difficult for a strong raiding unit of the Bulls. 

If defence is the strong point for Gujarat then for the Bulls it is certainly their attacking unit. They love to play with the aggressive style and that has yielded a result in their favour as well so far in the tournament. It will be a straight battle between Gujarat’s defence and the raiding department of Bengaluru Bulls. The trio of Pawan Sehrawat, captain Rohit Kumar and Kashiling Adake has managed to trouble many strong teams so far in the competition and the team management must be hoping them to step up for one final time today. The Bulls will want to get the maximum out of their raiders considering the fact that the defenders haven’t shown that potential in the season so far for the IT City of India. 

Rohit is back in form and after recovering from a muscle injury, senior star Kashi will try to make amends as well. Again, we all know that Pawan has the ability to change the course of the game in a single raid. It is certain that the two coaches BC Ramesh and Randhir Singh must have made some serious plans surrounding the three raiders to get maximum points going against the strong defensive unit. They have the option of utilising Harish Naik whenever there is a need during the final clash. Taking a look at the numbers and the kind of effective and instrumental players in the two teams this can be clearly called a game between Gujarat’s defence and Bengaluru’s raiding department. 

 © PKL

No, this is not only the game between the two aspects of the sport but also between the two captains in the final as well. Sunil is unarguably the best cover defender in the league while the skipper of Bengaluru Rohit is one of the topmost raiders in PKL. On one side, it has been a season to remember for Sunil as he has led from the front in most of the games and has troubled many acclaimed raiders, Rohit has been the second best for the Bulls as Pawan has surprised one and all with his amazing skills in the current edition of the league. 

Rohit is 10th in the list of Top Raiders this season with a total of 161 points but we have to remember that the skipper was not 100% fit on the mat during first few games this season. However, Sunil is at the fourth position as far as the tackle points go and he has played an instrumental role along with Parvesh in Gujarat’s successful journey in 2018. He has led the team with an example by picking up 72 tackle points from 24 matches which include amazing numbers in winning causes for the franchise as well. 

But why only the defenders from Gujarat and raiders from Bengaluru take all the limelight in the summit clash. Many eyes will be on the duo of Sachin and Prapanjan in Gujarat's raiding department and it is to be seen that how they are going to come up with the defensive unit of the Bulls comprising of players like Raju Lal Choudhary, Amit Sheoran, Mahender Singh and Ashish Sangwan on the mat.

So, with the league coming down to one last game in this season, it is not the captains of the two teams who will make all the difference. For one last game, it is one such player who can make all the difference. He is none other than Pawan Sehrawat, the 22-year-old raider who has been the surprise package from the Bulls camp from the very first day of their campaign where he collected 20 points from 15 tackle attempts against the Thalaivas. He has 249 raid points and is leading the table at the moment with an average of more than 10 raid points per game. Considering the fact that the Bulls have a poor defence, if Pawan lives up to the expectation and score more than 15 then they are almost certain of lifting the coveted trophy.  

Whatever the result might be, thousands of kabaddi lovers at the Dome@NSCI in Mumbai and millions of fans glued to their TV sets in the evening will have a breathtaking game to watch as PKL is all set to have a new champion after a long time in the tournament’s rich history after the Final Panga today. 

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