Pro Kabaddi League 2019: Preview: Table-toppers Dabang Delhi host bottom side Patna Pirates

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New Delhi, August 30: Table-toppers Dabang Delhi host bottom side Patna Pirates in Pro Kabaddi League 2019 at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex in New Delhi on Friday (August 30).

Pro Kabaddi Special Page | Full Schedule | Points Table

In front of their home crowd, Delhi have won three games on the trot and are fresh of a huge victory over U Mumba. Patna Pirates, on the other hand, are winless in three and suffered a narrow defeat to Gujarat Fortungiants in their last match. Overall, they have won just three in ten games so far. So, they will look for upturn in their fortunes when they meet a highly confident Delhi side.

For Dabang Delhi, Naveen Kumar has been a class apart scoring 115 Raid Points in 10 matches with an average of 11.5 raid Points per match. His raid partner, Chandran Ranjit, meanwhile, hasn't been at his best in the last 3 matches.

Before Delhi's home leg, he was averaging 6.1 raid points. In the last 3 matches, he has managed to score just 8 raid points combined. So, he will be looking to help reduce Naveen's burden.

The defence had averaged just 8.3 tackle points before the start of home leg, the worst among teams at that point. In fact, they haven't managed to pick 10-plus tackle points in each of their first 7 matches.

However, since the start of their home leg, Delhi's defence led by Joginder Narwal were at their best averaging 12 tackle points. Delhi have managed to pick 10-plus tackle points in each of their last 3 matches. Joginder is well supported in defence by Ravinder Pahal and Vishal Mane.

So, Patna Pirates, wil need more than Pardeep Narwal to get a result from this game. Pirates have faced a constant problem in many of their matches this season when the raiders have failed to revive Pardeep Narwal when he is caught early on in the match. So, they will want Monu, Jang Kun Lee and Mohammad Esmaeil to fire when called upon.

The defence has also not been upto the mark for Pirates. And much has depended on corners Jaideep and Neeraj Kumar. When the duo fail to perform, Pirates have been on the losing end. So, the Pirates will hope their star defensive can stop the threat of free-scoring Naveen and Chandan Ranjit.

Game starts at 8.30 PM IST

Live Channel: Star Sports 2 and Star Sports 2HD

Live Stream: HotStar