Patna Pirates take on Telugu Titans in their last match of the Pro Kabaddi League 2015, with nothing but pride in store. The two teams lost their respective semi-final games this year and Sunday's match will decide which team finishes third in the competition.
The importance of a third-place game can be debated by some, but it doesn't take away the excitement either from the fans or the teams.
Patna Pirates will find it hard to recover from the thrashing of U Mumba on Friday, as the hosts completely outclassed the Patna sides to record a 35-18 victory.
None of the players from the Pirates roster could have something positive to take from the game, as it was totally one-sided. From the start to the end, Mumbai bossed the game.
Deepak Narwal remained the only light for the Patna side. However, his solo battle remained futile as he earned only four points.
Sandeep Narwal notched up four points from the game and Gurvinder Singh earned three points (including a tackle point) to help Patna marginalise the gap even a little bit. Defender Amit Hooda also may have earned five points (including four tackle points), but that wasn't enough to stop U Mumba.
The Telugu Titans, on the other hand, gave a strong fight to the Bengaluru Bulls in the dying moments of the game, even though the former had to go down 38-39 in the semi-final. Skipper Rahul Chaudhary spearheaded a late attack to help bridge the gap in the number of points between the sides.
Chaudhary secured nine raid points in the closing stages, while young defender Sandeep Kandola also played his part to garner as many as ten points, including six in defence.
Titans star raider Deepak Hudda also played his part in both the attacking and defensive fronts to notch up six points.
The Titans – with the presence of young guns in Rupesh Tomar, Prashant Rai and Rohit Baliyan – do feel that they have some unfinished business to take care of, and Patna Pirates need to be wary about that, as they go head-to-head at the NSCI Stadium in Mumbai on Sunday.
Previous encounters this year:
30 July, 2015 - Telugu Titans defeated Patna Pirates 34-22.
6 August, 2015 - Telugu Titans defeated Patna Pirates 54-32.
Pro Kabaddi League 2015 Third-Place Playoff: Patna Pirates vs Telugu Titans gets underway on Sunday, 23 August, at 8 pm IST (3:30pm BST).
Where to Watch Live:
The match is LIVE on Star Sports.
Hindi Coverage - Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD 3, Star Gold
English Coverage - Star Sports 2, Star Sports HD 2
Telugu Coverage - Maa Movies
Kannada Coverage - Suvarna Plus
Marathi Coverage - Star Pravah
UK viewers can catch the action on Life OK
Live streaming will be available on Hotstar and Starsports.com
