Patna Pirates vs UP Yoddha Match Prediction: Who will win today's Pro Kabaddi 2017 match?
In Match No. 81 of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 5, the defending champions, the Patna Pirates will clash against the new entrants - UP Yoddha at the Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium in Ranchi, Jharkhand. The first encounter between these two sides during the Ahmedabad leg ended in a tie where the Pirates had staged a comeback after trailing initially in the match.
With respect to today's match, the Pirates will be high on confidence post their big win against the Telugu Titans last night while the UP Yoddha are coming into this match on the back of a loss against the Tamil Thalaivas.
The Patna attack has been brilliant throughout the course of the season much due to the exploits of their talismanic captain, Pardeep Narwal who leads the points tally with a massive 163 raid points to his credit, way ahead of the second challenger, Rahul Chaudhari who has picked up 120 so far.
Monu Goyat, the second raider has also been performing quite well with yet another Super-10 outing last night. The defence of the Pirates after a few hiccups in recent matches came good against the Titans last night with the likes of Vishal Mane, Sachin Shingade, Jawahar and Jaideep all making vital contributions.
UP, on the other hand, have a well-balanced side but always seem to falter towards the end of the match with the pressure bringing forth a host of errors. Nitin Tomar and Rishank Devadiga lead the attack for the side, while either Mahesh Goud or Surender Singh comes in as the third raider.
The defence is primarily manned by the trio comprising of the experienced Jeeva Kumar alongside talented young guns in the likes of Sagar Krishna and Nitesh Kumar. The all-rounder Rajesh Narwal has been all but dismal throughout the season and thus either needs to buck up in a big manner or some other player needs to be given a chance to showcase his mettle.
Patna Pirates vs UP Yoddha match prediction
This match is likely to go down to the wire akin to the encounter between the two teams earlier in the season. The team with the better defence will have the last laugh with the best of the raiders taking to the mat on both shores in the likes of Pardeep, Monu, Nitin Tomar and Rishank.