UP Yoddha’s polished performance, in offence as well as defence, resulted in a hard-earned 38-32 win over Jaipur Pink Panthers on the third day of Pro Kabaddi League’s Pune leg at the Balewadi indoor stadium on Monday.
The eighth win also eased the victor’s entry into the top six. Shrikant Jadhav (nine points), Rishank Devadiga (eight) and Surender Gill (seven) delivered in crunch situations, though the top-scorer of the evening ended up on the losing side.
Pro Kabaddi: UP Yoddha edges past Jaipur, Dabang Delhi trounces Telugu Titans- As it happened
Panthers’ captain Deepak Hooda’s balance and reflexes earned him 13 points (including two bonus points) and plenty of respect. He also came up with a 'Super-tackle' to delay the second 'All-out'.
Sushil Gulia (five points) made early impact, sending out three Yoddha players in a 'Super-raid'.
The defensive line at both ends of the mat got into the act, giving raiders a tough time. The match took a twist due to some clever work by Surender in offence and defence.
He twisted and turned to get to the centreline, eluding the challenge from two rivals and then caught Sachin Narwal with a firm waist hold as Panthers ran out of players and suffered an 'All-out'.
Yoddha displayed solidity from this point till the half-time, walking off the mat ahead 20-13.
Shrikant and Rishank earned touch points in a heap, the former sent out three Panthers, the latter slipped past two rivals.
Deepak Hooda, composed on court and quick to sense any scoring opportunity, touched out two Yoddha players in between the excellent offensive work by Shrikant and Rishnk. Both sides went into the tie with seven wins each, Yoddhas had two tied games, Panthers had tied once.
Dabang Delhi thumps Telugu Titans
Dabang Delhi consolidated its stranglehold at the top of the Pro Kabaddi League table with a 37-29 victory over a struggling Telugu Titans in the second match of the day.
Siddharth Desai of Titans started strong with four quick raid points and was ably supported by Rakesh Gowda's all-round show. Gowda scored a 'Super-tackle' and two raid points to give his team an early advantage.
However, it was soon nullified by Naveen Kumar, who was quick to shift the momentum in Delhi's favour with a string of successful raids. Things worsened for Titans, that suffered an 'All-out' in the first half, once Anil Kumar and Ravinder Pahal started pinning one Titans' raider after another.
The second half was more closely contested. Both Naveen and Siddharth raced to a 'Super-10', but the latter proved to be the lone warrior as his team suffered another 'All-out'.
Hyderabad's star defenders, Abozar Mighani and Vishal Bhardwaj chipped in with tackle points towards the fag end of the match. But their contribution proved to be too little too late as Delhi registered its 13th victory.
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