Hyderabad: UP Yoddhas – the GMR owned franchisee of the Pro Kabaddi League bounced back with a thrilling 35-31 win over Gujarat Giants in Match 93 of the ninth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League in the Hyderabad leg. UP Yoddhas who started on a dominating note lost steam in the second half but an overall performance in both offence and defence ensured they walked away with their eighth win this season. Perfect Player of the Match & Moment of the Match awards winner UP Yoddhas Captain Pardeep Narwal earned nine valuable raid points for UP Yoddhas while also becoming the only player in the Pro Kabaddi League history to surpass 1500 raid points. Game Changer of the match award winner Rohit Tomar made a super 10 that also included five valuable tackle points, while Mahipal earned another 3 raid points. Gurdeep and Sumit earned 3 & 2 tackle points respectively while Ashu Singh and Nitesh Kumar earned 1 tackle point each. With this win UP Yoddhas consolidate their place on the fourth place with 50 points to their kitty.
UP Yoddhas won the toss and put Gujarat Giants on for the opening raid. Both the teams made a safe opening raid but thereafter it were UP Yoddhas who drew first blood through a fantastic tackle that was initiated by Sumit. UP Yoddhas hereon raced their way to the top with complete dominance as the team displayed a complete overall performance. UP Yoddhas dominance on the game was so much that in the first minutes they did not even allow Gujarat Giants to open their score card, as the score card read 5-0 to UP Yoddhas favour. Just two minutes later a multi-point raid by captain Pardeep Narwal saw UP Yoddhas inflict the first All-Out on Gujarat Giants with the scoreboard reading 9-1 to their favour. Captain Pardeep Narwal was on fire today as he became the first ever player to surpass 1500 raid points as he ensured the scoreboard doesn’t stop favouring UP Yoddhas. Gujarat Giants tried making a comeback but failed in their efforts as the first half came to an end with the scoreboard reading 20-10 to UP Yodhhas favour.
The second half began with Gujarat Giants making an impressive comeback earning back-to-back points in succession as they inflicted the first All-Out on UP Yoddhas, now just trailing by three points as the scoreboard read 22-19 still favouring UP Yoddhas. The game thereafter saw Gujarat Giants changing gears, as they kept surging ahead to lead for the first time in the game half way in the second half. The scoreboard at this moment read 24-25 to the favour of Gujarat Giants. However UP Yoddhas immediately regained their lead with a fantastic super-tackle as the scoreboard read 26-25 to their favour. Thereafter the game was a neck-to-neck competition with UP Yoddhas sustaining their slender lead all throughout. UP Yoddhas wrapped up the game with a spectacular super tackle to their favour as the scorecard read 35-31.
