Pro Kabaddi League: UP Yoddha beat Patna with last raid of match; Puneri Paltan register win against Titans

(Source: PKL)

Bengaluru: UP Yoddha beat Patna Pirates 36-35 in the final move of the match to clinch much-needed 5 points in the first match of Pro Kabaddi League Christmas day triple-header at The Sheraton Grand Whitefield Bengaluru. 

Patna thought they had managed to claw their way back into a tie in the last move of the match when they tackled Surender Gill but the UP raider ensured he got a bonus point in the process to keep that one-point lead alive.

Pardeep Narwal, former Patna raider, was the highest point scorer for UP Yoddha with 12 points.

"Yoddha bankar jeet dilana, haan thoda alag laga par chalta hai" - Pardeep Narwal, probably _

U.P. Yoddha steal a last-second win against Patna Pirates in what was a thrilling #SuperhitPanga _#PATvUP #vivoProKabaddi pic.twitter.com/k6SOmeNPzL — ProKabaddi (@ProKabaddi) December 25, 2021

As expected Pardeep Narwal got off to a flier, picking up two bonus points in his first two raids and then following it up with a two-point raid. 

Patna struggled in the initial stages with their raiders Monu Goyat and Prashant Kumar Rai struggling.

A 3-point super raid in the 10th minute by UP Yoddha`s Shrikant Jadhav had three-time champions Patna Pirates sweating with just two men on the mat. 

But their all-rounder Sachin clinched an important raid point and followed it up with a Super Tackle.Patna then made a remarkable comeback with four Super tackles with the likes of Mohammadreza Chianeh and Sajin impressing. 

The first half ended with Patna in the lead at 20-12 with both sides failing to inflict an ALL OUT.The second half saw both teams complete Super Tackles as the defenders took charge of the match. 

But a few mistakes from the men in green allowed UP to secure the game`s first ALL OUT in the 10th minute of the second half to open a narrow 3-point lead.The team from UP maintained the lead till the last few minutes partly due to a few mistakes from the Patna defence. 

The Pirates however made it a one-point game with UP having to go through a do-or-die raid in the last move of the match. But Surender Gill showed great presence of mind to pick up a bonus point and win the match for UP Yoddha. 

In the second match, all-rounder performance from Aslam Inamdar (8 points) helped Puneri Paltan beat Telugu Titans 34-33 in the second Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 match of Christmas day at The Sheraton Grand, Whitefield Bengaluru.

Siddharth Desai scored 15 points for the Telugu Titans but had no support from fellow raiders including captain Rohit Kumar as Pune secured a last-second victory.

The match started with all the eyes on top raiders Rahul Chaudhari and Siddharth Desai. 

The "showman" Rahul struggled again to make an impression with his early raids for Pune while Siddharth Desai showed why he is considered the "Baahubali" with powerful moves including massive hand-touches.

But his teammate and captain Rohit Kumar seemed to be moving gingerly and struggled to have an effect on the match for the Titans.

Aslam Inamdar seemed to be the brightest hope for Pune who did not have Nitin Tomar in the line-up. 

Telugu Titans got lucky as 4 Pune defenders jumped into the lobby to tackle Siddharth Desai who had already gone out of bounds.

The momentum shift handed them in the next move and Siddharth Desai secured a 3-point Super Raid in the last minute to end the half 20-14 in Titans` favour.

Pune regrouped in the second half and capitalised on Titans` lack of a strong raider to assist Siddharth Desai. 

Mohit Goyat`s brilliant 3-point raid fetched the Pune team an ALL OUT and a slender 2-point lead in the 7thminute of the half.

Super raids, super tackles, super se bhi upar wala #SuperhitPanga! _

The amount of 'Super' in this blockbuster was just __ as @PuneriPaltan register a slender win against @Telugu_Titans _#PUNvTT #vivoProKabaddi pic.twitter.com/1ewoX6esSg— ProKabaddi (@ProKabaddi) December 25, 2021

But Siddharth Desai then put it a 3-point Super Raid to clinch his Super 10 and level the scores at 25-25 with 10 minutes remaining. 

Interestingly Rahul Chaudhari wasn`t part of the Pune seven in the second half after being benched while defender AbineshNadarajan raced to his High 5 with some clean tackling.Siddharth Desai ensured Titans got their ALL OUT with three minutes left on the clock to get a 2-point lead. 

But Aslam Inamdar, with a tackle and multiple quick raids ensure the momentum shifted back to Pune. The last raid blunder by Rakesh Gowda where he miscalculated a Bonus Point handed Pune a 1-point victory - their first of the season.