Match: India v Iran
Date: 22 October, Saturday
Time: 10:15pm SGT/7:45pm IST/3:15pm BST
Venue: TransStadia Arena, Ahmedabad
Competition: Kabaddi World Cup 2016
TV Coverage: In Singapore, the live coverage of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup final between India and Iran will be on Fox Sports 3.
Live Streaming: Hotstar
Overview
India take on Iran in the final of the 2016 Kabaddi World Cup at the TransStadia Arena in Ahmedabad on 22 October.
The two teams will meet in their third consecutive world cup final after their clashes in the ultimate battles of the 2004 and 2007 editions. India, who have ended up on the winning side on both the occasions, are gunning for their third consecutive world title.
Anup Kumar-led India are primed to emerge victorious on Saturday after their complete demolition of spirited, young Thai unit on Friday in the semi-final. The hosts, who were looking dominant from the word go made light work of their Southeast Asian opponents with a resounding scoreline of 73-20.
Raiders Pardeep Narwal and Ajay Thakur were at their best and tore into the Thai defence. While the 19-year-old never got tackled even once during his 10 raids in the match and ended up scoring a match high of 14 points, the former scored 11 raid points to become the player with second-most raid points (52) behind Thai captain Khomsan Thongkham (56).
The Indian defense unit led by Surender Nada, who came up with a High 5 as well, was closely knit and was never threatened even by the influential Thongkham.
On the on the hand, Iran edged out South Korea 28-22 in a thriller. While the Asian giants were the favourites to win the tie, the East Asian country had been unbeaten until their last-four clash and they came up with another stiff fight on Friday.
At one point of the match, it was South Korea who had a seven-point lead over their opponents and they even went into the break with a 13-11 scoreline.
However, in the second half, when the Group A toppers were looking for an upset win, Iran used their experience to stay composed and kept the South Koreans at check.
Fazel Atrachali, who is among the top-ten defenders with 18 tackle points in the tournament, showed his class and combined well with the defense unit to make life harder for Jang Kun Lee's side. Skipper Meraj Sheykh came up with a match high of seven raid points.
On Saturday it will be a test of defensive strength of both the finalists. While India have been displaying all-round capabilities, Iran have banked on the capabilities of their main men Atrachali, Farhad Rahimi and Abozar Mohajer at their back.
It will be interesting to see how the raiders fare on Saturday as both teams rarely commit themselves early to tackles. Iran's corner defenders have been on top of their game and they will have to step up to prevent the likes of Anup and Thakur from running away with the match.
While Iran will be looking to change the usual world cup final script, the in-form Indian unit have the edge as they will be rallied by the vocal home fans at Ahmedabad.
TV Schedule
Singapore: Fox Sports 3
India: Star Sports
UK: Sky Sports
US: Fox Sports
Middle East: OSN Sports
Team News
India
Possible starting lineup: Anup Kumar (c), Manjeet Chillar, Ajay Thakur, Mohit Chillar, Surjeet, Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Pardeep Narwal
Iran
Possible starting lineup: Meraj Sheykh, Fazel Atrachali, Soleiman Pahlevani, Abozar Mohajer Mighani, Farhad Rahimi Milaghardan, Abolfazl M. Mahalli, Gholamabbas Korouki
