Out of the frying pan into the fire. September will be a crunch month for all teams in the league, and it will undoubtedly shape up the table, separating the pretenders from the contenders. Falter now, and there’s no turning back.

Season 7 has entered the big month, and our Giants will be in the thick of the action. We are set to play eight matches in the next 24 days, and the road to a third consecutive playoff berth truly begins now.

Considering our head-to-head record with rival teams, we can be fairly confident of getting a good number of wins under our belt. A good run of form could see ourselves in with a shout of finishing in the top six without having to rely on the results of other teams.

We begin this run with a game against the Bengal Warriors in Kolkata tomorrow, and a win against the home side would definitely give us a momentum when we face UP Yoddhas two days later. Our defence has already rattled the UP Yoddhas’ raiders  in our huge win against them in Season 7. The Cover combo of Sunil and Parvesh were at their lethal best, securing 12 tackle points between them. 

We haven’t had the greatest of records in Kolkata, as we have only secured a solitary win in three matches we played there. Nonetheless, we can be fairly optimistic considering our great records against both the Bengal Warriors and the U.P Yoddhas.

Post our matches in Kolkata, we have a four day break before we travel to Pune to take on the home side Puneri Paltan, and then current table toppers Dabang Delhi. The huge positives heading into those fixtures is that we enjoy a 100% record at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Stadium, and we have also outclassed the home side Puneri Paltan multiple times in our past encounters .

The face-off against the in-form Dabang Delhi, just 24 hours later will surely be a daunting task. Despite the challenge, we can take comfort in the fact that our Giants are the only team to overpower them in Season 7. Our raiders put on a great show against the Dabangs in Mumbai, especially More GB, who was outstanding in that five-point win. Another strong performance on the night gives us a genuine shot at doing the double over them.

Our travels then take us to Jaipur, where we will have a week long break before we face the home side, followed by U Mumba in consecutive days. We didn’t play a match at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Season 6, but we had emerged victorious in both matches we played there in our inaugural season.

Keeping the losses that we suffered against U Mumba and the Panthers this season aside, we have a dominant head-to-head record against both teams. If we play to the best of our potential, we have what it takes to get the better off both teams in Jaipur. Considering things go our way, we could potentially have one foot in the playoffs by that time, all the more motive for our Giants to perform.

The final two fixtures of this testing month will come against the Tamil Thalaivas and the Haryana Steelers at Tau Devilal Sports Complex in Haryana. The Thalaivas are currently struggling to get going in this season, and we will hope the same trend continues when we go up against them.

We had the most disappointing of outcomes against the Steelers this season, and we will undoubtedly look to get our payback when we meet them again. It will be an interesting battle when we face them at their home den, with both teams looking to seal a top 6 birth.

Apart from Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, we have a 100% win record in the other three venues, and that is a huge confidence booster for us. Despite the tough losses we have endured this season, there is no doubt that our fortunes still lie in our own hands. On paper we can see the potential of sweeping all our matches, and there is every chance we actually outshine our opponents to qualify for the playoffs for a third consecutive time.