Naveen Kumar during raid against Haryana in PKL 2021-22
UP Yoddha beat struggling Telugu Titans 39-33 in a Pro Kabaddi League match here on Saturday. Yoddha were better in all the departments with their raiders – Pardeep Narwal (10), Shrikant Jadhav (7) and Surender Gill (7) – picking up valuable points.
Telugu Titans had a great opportunity to make a comeback by inflicting an ALL OUT on Yoddha in the final minutes but captain Rohit Kumar’s decision to go raiding backfired. Rajnish and Ankit Beniwal scored 9 points each for the Titans who are without a win in Season 8.
Telugu Titans had Rohit Kumar back in the starting 7 but that didn’t really add to the raiding efforts in the first half. Rajnish and Ankit Beniwal showed glimpses of their immense potential, but the half surely belonged to Yoddha who had a clear plan for the Titans.
Their defensive corner duo of Sumit and Nitesh Kumar found form after the initial raids making life difficult for the young Telugu raiders.
At the other end Pardeep Narwal, Shrikant Jadhav and Surender Gill took turns to eat away points from the defence. Together, they inflicted an ALL OUT on the Titans with 7 minutes remaining for halftime to open a 3-point lead. Yoddha managed the time on the mat very well and ended the half on top with scores 19-14.
