Pro Kabaddi League 2018, UP Leg: Top 5 raiders from the UP leg
The UP Yoddha finished their woeful home campaign with yet another loss under their belt, as a 27-37 decimation at the hands of the Bengaluru Bulls saw the hosts finish with a winless home campaign, a first in this edition of the Pro Kabaddi League.
In five home games, the Yoddha fell to three losses, two against the Bengaluru Bulls while the two tied encounters against the Telugu Titans and Bengal Warriors were the only sporadic bright sparks in a faltering campaign.
The raiding trio of Rishank Devadiga, Shrikant Jadhav and Prashant Rai failed to apply their skill set to perform consistently while the corner defenders Nitesh Kumar and Sachin Kumar were responsible to lead the way with a good set of blocks and holds.
In the end, the Yoddha's overall inconsistency hurt their cause as their opposition teams made merry at the home of the Yoddha in which a few raiders jumped back into form to pile the pressure on the home team.
Here are the top five raiders from the UP leg.
#5 Naveen Kumar - Dabang Delhi K.C
The young raider was a force to reckon with as his nippy raiding stood out in Delhi's two games during the UP leg. Against the defence-heavy Gujarat Fortunegiants, Naveen lured tackles from the likes of Sunil Kumar and Ruturaj Koravi to finish with eight raid points but unfortunately finished on the wrong side of the result.
In eight games thus far, Naveen has picked up just two 'Super 10s' but his ability to continually chip away with the points, either through perfectly executed bonus points or the running hand touch was on display when Delhi took on UP in a game that saw the youngster agonizingly missing out on his third Super-10, finishing with nine points.
Overall, Naveen finished with 17 points from two games at a healthy average of 8.5 raid points per match.