PKL 2019 Final : Bengal Warriors vs Dabang Delhi (Match Preview)
Head to Head: Bengal Warriors 1, Tie 1. Dabang Delhi: 0.
Will Delhi get 3rd time lucky?
Dabang Delhi go into the clash against Bengal Warriors looking to finally get one over. Bengal Warriors are the only team against whom Dabang Delhi are yet to register a win. In two attempts in Pro Kabaddi Season 7 losing one and tying one. Dabang Delhi’s defence primarily needs to step up against Bengal Warriors if they are to win their maiden title. In the two matches before Delhi’s defence, they had a tackle strike rate of 26 attempting 50 tackles and failing with a whopping 38 of those.
Naveen vs Bengal defence
Naveen Kumar – is undoubtedly the star of Dabang Delhi’s march to the final. He will look to star in the final for the last time and stamp his authority on Pro Kabaddi Season 7. The 19-year old has scored 283 raid points so far and will look to become the 3rd raider to reach 300 raid points. His role will be crucial as Bengal Warriors lack a dependable right cover and Naveen has dominated Bengal Warriors left corner Rinku Narwal in the last 2 meetings. But crucially for Bengal Warriors their corner defenders have been superb throughout the season. Baldev importantly holds a 3-1 advantage over Naveen. Bengal Warriors will be once again banking on Baldev and Rinku to shore up their defence.
Sukesh and Prapanjan to haunt Delhi again
While Maninder Singh missed the narrow semifinal win over U Mumba, his absence was not felt too much by the Bengal Warriors. The experienced Sukesh Hegde led the Bengal Warriors raiding. With his super raid helped Bengal inflict the all-out on U Mumba. With 8 raid points he was Bengal’s top raider in the match. Prapanjan looked a bit rusty after coming back from an injury but he boasts a good record against Dabang Delhi. He has scored a Super 10 the only time he met Dabang Delhi K.C. Both Sukesh Hegde and Prapanjan are well equipped to expose chinks in Dabang Delhi’s right side defence. Ravinder Pahal is great against right riders but he is average against left raiders. He has conceded a lot of super raids to left raiders, while left cover Anil is also not good at dashes. How Dabang Delhi deal with Sukesh Hegde and Prapanjan will go a long way in deciding the outcome of the match.