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Mumbai, 16th December 2022: The vivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 has ebbed and flowed dramatically for over two months and the fans will be treated with one more mouth-watering clash as the Jaipur Pink Panthers get ready to take on the Puneri Paltan in the Final at the Dome, NSCI SVP Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday.
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The Jaipur Pink Panthers finished at the top of the table at the end of the league stage, but have been at the wrong side of the result against Puneri Paltan in both their matches during the league stage. The Panthers, who have not reached the Final since 2016, will be hoping to better their record against Pune in the summit clash.
Meanwhile, the Puneri Paltan will be turning up for their first-ever vivo Pro Kabaddi League Final and their inspirational Captain Fazel Atrachali is all set to lead his young army one last time, "I motivated the young players throughout the season. I have carried out this role very well. I have to do this for one more hour. We have really good players and I will tell them to go and play freely and that I am there to support them."
Speaking about their Semi-Final victory against Tamil Thalaivas on Thursday, the skipper said, "I am very happy for my team. Our target has always been to win the trophy and nothing is more important than that. I want to thank Akash Shinde, Pankaj Mohite and Mohammad Nabibakhsh. They have played very well in the absence of Aslam Inamdar and Mohit Goyat and I am proud of them. We watched Tamil Thalaivas' Eliminator game and identified their weak areas, which helped us to defeat them."
The Jaipur Pink Panthers Captain Sunil Kumar has also been a terrific leader for his side this season. He said that he puts a lot of emphasis on controlling his team on the mat, "We have good raiders in Arjun Deshwal, V Ajith and Rahul Chaudhari. One of them always plays well in every match. We won by a big margin against Bengaluru because our defense unit also performed. I told Sahul Kumar not to worry about losing points and that if he got caught, I was there to control the defense. My job is to stay on the mat and control the team and I have been trying to do that throughout the season."
When asked about their 49-29 victory over the Bengaluru Bulls in the Semi-Final on Thursday, Sunil said, "First, we sent Arjun for raiding and he scored a few points. And then we held him back and put Ajith at the forefront of our raiding unit. And this strategy worked for us. Sahul also played very well and he pulled off a lot of catches in the defense unit. We told Sahul to attack Vikash Kandola and that worked for us."
The Puneri Paltan will bank on raiders Akash Shinde and Pankaj Mohite, however, they will face a strong challenge from Jaipur's defenders Ankush and Sahul Kumar. Will the Jaipur Pink Panthers manage to win their second title or will the vivo Pro Kabaddi League have a new champion? The answer is just a few hours away.
The Final of the vivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 will be broadcast live on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar from 8 PM onwards