After 108 league-stage encounters across four cities, the 12th season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) moves to its business end as eight teams qualify for the Playoffs.
The competition begins with the Play-ins on Saturday, where the defending champions, Haryana Steelers will take on the Jaipur Pink Panthers. Meanwhile, the Patna Pirates will take on U Mumba in the second play-in. The winners from there will progress to the Playoffs.
The playoffs will begin from Sunday at the Thyagaraj Indoor Stadium in Delhi, where the winners from the Play-ins will play in the Eliminator 1. On the same day, Bengaluru Bulls will take on the Telugu Titans in the Mini Qualifier. On October 27, Eliminator 2 will witness the winner of the Eliminator 1 take on the loser between Bulls and Titans. It will also see the top two teams battle it out for the place in the final in Qualifier 1.
Eliminator 3 will take place between the winner of the Eliminator 2 and the winner of the mini-qualifier on October 28. The team that prevails in that encounter will play Qualifier 2 on October 29, where the loser of Qualifier 1 will be awaiting them. The winner of that match-up will book their place in the final, which will take place on October 31.
The league stage saw the introduction of tiebreakers for the first time, raising the level of the competition this season. The top two-teams – Puneri Paltan and Dabang Delhi K.C. raised the bar for the league this season, securing their playoff spot well ahead of the league stage with 26 points each. There was also an intense battle between teams placed third to sixth, with third-placed Bengaluru Bulls on 22 points, followed by Telugu Titans, Haryana Steelers and U Mumba, who were tied on 20 points.
PKL 12 also witnessed a stunning turnaround for season 11’s runners up, Patna Pirates. Until Day 44 of the Season, they were at the bottom of the table, before scripting a comeback to win five matches in a row, and finishing seventh on the points table. While U Mumba missed a chance to seal a top-four spot on the final day, Jaipur Pink Panthers completed the lot, finishing in eighth place.
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