Bengaluru: UP Yoddha, the GMR Group owned franchise in Pro Kabaddi League, lost to Haryana Steelers 35-36 in the final moments of the game today.
The game that was poised at 35-35 in the final minute saw UP Yoddha being edged out in the final few seconds through a bonus point earned by the Steelers, who emerged victorious by a solitary point.
UP Yoddha, started on a slow note and tried making a comeback through some heroic performances from super-sub Md. Taghi and Shrikant Jadhav, but eventually failed to seal the game to their name.
For the Yoddha’s, Shrikant Jadav, Pardeep Narwal & Md. Taghi earned 10, 6 & 5 raid points respectively while Captain Nitesh Kumar & Shubham Kumar earned 4 & 3 tackle points each.
UP Yoddha are currently placed 4th on the league standings with 39 points in their kitty. UP Yoddha will now face Jaipur Pink Panthers next on 27th January, 2022. This game would be broadcasted live, 7:30 PM onwards on the Star Sports Network and Disney+ Hotstar.
The match started at a high pace with Pardeep Narwal drawing first blood with his trademark ‘Dubki’. Some solid defensive performance from Shubham Kumar & Sumit helped UP Yoddha take a 5-3 lead in the 5th minute.
Pardeep Narwal raised his game with his back-to-back points which helped the Yoddha’s extend their lead to 7-4 at the 7th minute.
However, UP Yoddha gave away a few quick points and their lead was compromised with Haryana Steelers racing their way to a 9-11 lead at the 13th minute.
The Yoddhas fought back but could not cut down the deficit and the first half ended 14-15 with the Yoddhas trailing by a solitary point. The second half began with Haryana Steelers racing their way to a 17-22 lead by inflicting an ‘All Out’ on UP Yoddha in the 22nd minute.
UP Yoddha thereafter couldn’t consolidate themselves giving away quick points to Haryana Steelers. UP Yoddha who were standing at the brink of their second ‘All Out’ got a lease of life through substitute Md. Taghi who pulled of a scintillating ‘super raid’ earning 4 crucial points in the 29th minute to reduce the score deficit to 24-29.
Thereafter UP Yoddha stepped up their gain to earn some quick points with the help of Pardeep Narwal, Shrikant Jadav and Mohammed Taghi with the score board reading 27-30 in the 35th minute.
Moments later UP Yoddha inflicted an ‘All-Out’ on Haryana Steelers to reduce their lead to a solitary point with the score board reading 31-32. With just one minute to go a ‘super raid’ of 3 points from Shrikant Jadhav helped UP Yoddha level scores at 35-35
however the fate of the game was decided in the final few seconds when Haryana Steelers took the advantage of the final raid with a bonus point that saw them walk away with 1 point, 35-36 win today.
UP Yoddha have ABP News as their lead sponsor, while Iodex, Socios.com & Encalm Lounge have joined hands as principal sponsors. Adding to that, Amaze Inverters & Lifelong have come on board as associate sponsors.
