Pune (Maharashtra)[India], December 19 : In a twist of the tale, the UP Yoddhas put their money on Surender Gill and not the ever-reliant Pardeep Narwal to seal a hard-fought draw against the Bengal Warriors on Monday. The raider bagged an impressive 18 points, including 13 touchpoints, as his side secured an important win to stay in the race for the playoffs.
Speaking to the media post the match, UP Yoddhas assistant coach Upendra Malik revealed the thought process behind fielding a confident Gill ahead of Narwal, who managed two points across nine raids for his team. "It depends on the match strategies because when we felt that Surender Gill could perform well, we gave him more raiding opportunities.
"In the initial raids by Pardeep, the opposing team had 4 or 5 players on the mat, but Pardeep does well against 6 or 7 players. Since Bengal's left defence was strong today, we gave Gill more chances to face them," he further added.
After losing momentum in the second half of the match, the Yoddhas fought back in the final few raids to take the match to a tie, a result that was favourable for the side who were looking to improve on their fourth-place finish from season 9. "We should have won this match, but it ended in a tie. If there had been 2 seconds more on the clock for the final raid, the match would have been unfavourable for us. Therefore, we are happy to draw the match and take 3 points."
Preview for the match on Wednesday:
The Jaipur Pink Panthers narrowly beat out the Patna Pirates in their last match and will be hoping to secure a big win to improve their score difference of -2. All eyes will be on Arjun Deshwal, whose raid percentage of 63% will be key in ending their inconsistent form in PKL 10. Meanwhile, the Yoddhas will be riding high after their tie against the Bengal Warriors, and apart from Pardeep Narwal, the focus will increase of Surender Gill after his brilliant outing.
In the other game of the night, the home side Puneri Paltan will need to win to take a substantial lead at the top of the points table. Led ably by skipper Aslam Inamdar, he will be key against the Bengaluru Bulls, who finally ended their four-match losing streak with the victory over the Jaipur Pink Panthers in their last match. Currently, in the bottom half of the points table, the onus will be on Vishal Kandola and Bharat to lift their team back up.
Schedule for PKL Season 10 matches on Wednesday
Game 1 - Jaipur Pink Panthers vs UP Yoddhas - 8 pm
Game 2 - Puneri Paltan vs Bengaluru Bulls - 9 pm.
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