PKL 2018: UP Yoddha becomes the first team to finish without a home win

The bulls of Bengaluru defeated Yoddha 37-27. (Source: PKL)

The former India Kabaddi captain, Rakesh Kumar, blamed the UP Yoddha forwards for their struggles during the season. Expressing before the start of the match, the prize-winning player Arjuna said: "The defense of UP Yoddha has been good. But the raiders are not good. Injury to Prashant Kumar hurt them and they are struggling to produce a third striker, "he said. He added that Captain Rishank Devadiga was feeling the pressure of the captaincy.

In his last home game against the Bengaluru Bulls in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh on Thursday, Prashant scored three points before the match. in the first half. But the rest of the Yoddhas continued to remain calm. The Bengaluru Raid, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, ransacked the UP defense to score its 9th Super 10 of the season. Sehrawat has 11 points to lead his team to an easy win between 37 and 27.

The young striker was well supported by captain Rohit Kumar, who retained his form from the previous match, scoring 7 points in the night. In defense, Mahender Singh showed showed why he is nicknamed "the bulldozer". Singh scored 6 points and remained the key player to stop UP's attacks.

For UP, Captain Devadiga was slow to come into play in the second half, scoring 5 points in 10 raids, including 4 with less than 6 minutes left on the clock. The UP raid Shrikant Jadhav, head injury during the previous match, also struggled to keep his form because he scored only one point on 12 raid attempts.

Addressing the raiders, Rishank said that because of the game situations, he forced to attempt raids at a later stage of the match, but added that he could have scored some More points he had gone raiding earlier in the game. "Because of the game situations, I had to wait early and not participate in raids. If I had left earlier, I might be out quickly, but the team asked me to come here. But if I had gone earlier, I could have scored a few more points, "he said. In five games, UP lost 3 while the two finished in a draw.

Speaking to reporters, UP Yoddha coach, Jasveer Singh, blamed the injuries on the poor performance of the team in the match. "The ongoing series of games has hurt many of our players. Captain Rishank was not in good shape. Shrikant also had stitches on his forehead. Our second striker, Azad Singh, was new and he could not outdo himself, "he said.

Delhi keeps hopes alive

Previously, Dabang Delhi had won the long-awaited Zone A match victory to keep their hopes alive. While the Iranian raid Meraj Sheykh left the crowd fascinated by his acrobatic jumps to score 6 points, the young Naveen Kumar again impressed by scoring 9 points in 15 attempts. Chandran Ranjit also scored a Super 5, the three forwards scoring a total of 21 points to allow the team to win a thrilling victory with a win of 39-33.

Haryana, who had left Monu Goyat under the command of the captain, had almost badured his return in force. in the second half, the raider registering his second Super 10 point of the season. Goyat scored 11 points in total. But while he was coming in to take his 12th point at the last minute of the match, he was trapped by the Delhi defense, which got two points from a superb tackle.

S Addressing reporters after the game, Delhi captain, Joginder Singh Narwal, praised. Naveen and says that he expects the youngster to behave even better during the tournament. "We used Meraj Sheykh today and it happened. From Naveen, I expect even more. When he gets caught, it's because he's losing focus. His speed is such that no one can catch him in Pro Kabaddi. He is young and his expectations are great. He can take us to the semi-finals, "he said.

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