Pune: UP Yoddhas, the GMR Group owned franchise representing the state of Uttar Pradesh, went down 31-40 to Puneri Paltans in the on-going Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season Nine. Playing the third match of the Friday triple-header at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex in Balewadi, the UP Yoddhas lacked sheen in their famed defensive play to Puneri Paltans while maintaining the 10th place on the points table, with 24 points from nine games.
UP Yoddhas will now face Haryana Steelers on 5th November 2022. The match would be broadcast LIVE & Exclusive on Star Sports Network and LIVE streamed Disney+ Hotstar 9:30 PM onwards.
UP Yoddhas began the game with four defenders and an all-rounder in Gurdeep while Pardeep Narwal and Surender Gill would shoulder the attacking responsibilities as usual. The Pune side began with Akash Shinde in place of the injured Aslam Inamdar.
The account for UP Yoddhas was opened with a defensive tackle point thanks to Sumit, but soon both Pardeep and Surender found themselves on the bench as the score read 3-3 after five minutes. UP Yoddhas struggled to match up to the defensive force of Puneri Paltans as both Surender Gill & Pardeep Narwal were on the bench early on in the game with the score board reading 5-9 to the favour of Puneri Paltans halfway into the first half. Puneri Paltans then had a dominating spell and inflicted an All Out on the UP Yoddhas thereby taking an 11-19 lead into the half-time break.
On commencement of the second-half, that lead was quickly cut down by three points and when the All-Out compliment was returned, the score read 18-21 in favour of the home team. Then came a Super Raid from Surender which brought the difference down to two (22-24).
That was the closest UP Yoddhas got to Puneri Paltans in the game. Puneri Paltans thereafter had another dominating spell to inflict a second All-Out on UP Yoddhas racing ahead with a 11-point lead with just over six minutes left in the game. UP Yoddhas through Pardeep Narwal tried catching up but could not convert the game to their favour. The game came to an end with the scoreboard reading 31-40 to the favour of Puneri Paltans.
For the UP Yoddhas, Surender Gill had 12 raid points to his name which was the fifth time this season that he has had a Super 10 in a game.
