UP Yoddha beat Patna Pirates 41-29 in a VIVO Pro Kabaddi League match at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Friday. 

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Shrikanth Jadhav (Super 10 with 10 points), Surender Gill (7 points) and Nitesh Kumar (5 tackle points) were all in form for the UP side who produced an all-round performance to secure an important victory that has them knocking at the doors of a playoff berth sitting in seventh place. Three-time champions Patna Pirates struggled to get a stranglehold of the match despite another Super 10 ( 14 raid points) from their raider Pardeep Narwal.

The lack of alternatives to Pardeep Narwal in the raiding department has been a major problem for Patna Pirates in this season and it was all too evident once again in the early minutes of their match against UP Yoddha. A strong tackle in the second minute meant Pardeep had to go to the dugout and it was no surprise that Yoddha inflicted, rather comfortably, an All-Out on the three-time champions on the seventh minute. A seven-point lead by the seventh minute meant the UP team took a relaxed approach. But cautious approaches seldom work in a game for the brave hearts, and Patna clawed their way back into the match through two Super Tackles by Monu and Hadi Oshtorak. Vikas Jaglan and Pardeep Narwal’s two-point raids further reduced the deficit towards the half time. The first half ended with UP Yoddha leading 16-14 but the momentum with the Pirates.

Patna clinched their first All-Out of the match in the first minute after the restart and dominated the early minutes of the half to secure a lead. But Patna’s error-prone defence faltered when it mattered and slowly allowed Yoddha to come back into the match. Nitesh Kumar was brilliant in the Yoddha’s defence, picking up a High 5 in the seventh minute of the half with an ankle hold on his nemesis Pardeep Narwal. Surender Gill’s clever raids allowed the UP side to inflict another All-Out with nine minutes remaining and move to a six-point lead. Pardeep Narwal clinched a Super 10 in the final minutes but Patna couldn’t manage a way back into the game. It got worse for the Pirates with less than three minutes remaining in the game when they suffered another All-Out.