PKL Season 6, Match 32: UP Yoddha muscle through Puneri Paltan's defence to secure a refreshing win
The UP Yoddha defeated the home side, Puneri Paltan by 29-23 at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune.
It was a low scoring encounter filled with a lot of empty raids, where both the teams played cautiously and took the occasional risks only when they had to, in the Do or Die raids.
Prashanth Kumar Rai was the Yoddha's top raider with 8 raid points from his 16 attempted raids, while Shrikant Jadhav with 6 points and the Yoddha's captain, Rishank Devadiga with 4 raid points too contributed to the Yoddhas raiding score.
The corner-duo of the Yoddha, Nitesh Kumar and Sagar Krishna did well as a unit as they scored 3 tackle points each and were the major contributors to the Yoddha's defensive score.
The Puneri Paltan's raiders, on the other hand, had a comparatively slower day in office, especially their star raider Nitin Tomar, who could manage just 5 raid points from his 16 attempted raids.
The Paltan's top raider for the match was Monu who scored 7 raid points and most of them at crucial junctures to keep his team always in the touching distance.
The absence of their captain, Girish Ernak was felt in Pune's defence as they could manage just 5 tackle points, in what turned out to be their worst defensive performance.
Ravi Kumar continued with his good form to contribute with 3 tackle points, while Subham Shinde and the substitute Akshay Jadhav chipped in with one point each.
Pune would look to forget this defeat as they go on a well-deserved rest after the culmination of their home leg, and would next be seen in action against the Gujarat Fortunegiants on Tuesday, the 30th. The UP Yoddha will next face Dabang Delhi as part of the ongoing Inter-zone Challenge Week on Sunday, the 28th.