UP Yoddha showed great composure and planning as they beat struggling Telugu Titans 39-33 in Match 56 of Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 at The Sheraton Grand, Whitefield, Bengaluru.
Yoddha were better in all the departments with their raiders - Pardeep Narwal (10), Shrikant Jadhav (7) and Surender Gill (7) - picking up valuable points. Telugu Titans had a great opportunity to make a comeback by inflicting an ALL OUT on Yoddha in the final minutes but captain Rohit Kumar's decision to go raiding backfired.
Rajnish and Ankit Beniwal scored 9 points each for the Titans who are without a win in Season 8.
Telugu Titans had Rohit Kumar back in the starting 7 but that didn't really add to the raiding efforts in the first half. Rajnish and Ankit Beniwal showed glimpses of their immense potential, but the half surely belonged to Yoddha who had a clear plan for the Titans.
Their defensive corner duo of Sumit and Nitesh Kumar found form after the initial raids making life difficult for the young Telugu raiders.
At the other end Pardeep Narwal, Shrikant Jadhav and Surender Gill took turns to eat away points from the defence. Together, they inflicted an all out on the Titans with 7 minutes remaining for halftime to open a 3-point lead.
Yoddha managed the time on the mat very well and ended the half on top with scores 19-14.
UP continued to dominate the early minutes of the second half with Surender Gill scoring points in raids. He was ably backed by Nitesh Kumar who clinched his High 5 as Yoddha sensed an ALL OUT.
But Titans' Prince D. produced a stunning Super Tackle on Surender Gill and Ankit Beniwal pushed Nitesh out of bounds to keep Yoddha at touching distance.
UP had a 3-point advantage going into the last minutes but with just two men on the mat, they were staring at an ALL OUT. But Yoddha produced two successive Super Tackles to stretch the lead again.
Adarsh's 2-point raid again reduced the lead again for Titans, but Yoddha's Pardeep Narwal held his nerves on multiple occasions to prevent an ALL OUT.
His calmness in the final minute raids got him a Super 10 and helped U.P. clinch a 6-point win in the second match of Triple Panga night.
( With inputs from ANI )
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