PKL : U.P Yoddha defeat Telugu Titans

Ahmedabad, Aug 12 (IANS)   In an even battle of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) here at the Trasstadia Arena U.P Yoddha kept their nerves until the dying minutes to defeat Telugu Titans 39-32  on Saturday.

The Lucknow outfit kept calm till the very end with its skipper Nitin Tomar scoring a super 10 points through his successful raids to lead his side to a narrow seven points win.

On the other hand, the Hyderabad outfit captain Rahul Chaudhari's (12 points) effort from his 23 attempted raids ended in vain. 

Telugu Titans accumulated their initial points courtesy of successful raids from skipper Rahul Chaudhari and a single tackle point from Vishal Bhardwaj to take a 2-0 lead. Chaudhari continued to take charge of raiding and succeeded in giving his side a slender 11-7 lead clinching five points from two raids. 

For U.P Yoddha, star raider Rishank Devadiga along side Rajesh Narwal and Nitesh Kumar pulled back crucial points in the initial minutes to keep the scoreboard tight with the opposition not letting them take the advantage. 

Thanks to successful raids from captain Nitin Tomar in the dying moments of the first half, the U.P outfit were handed a one point advantage with 14-13 points at half time.

The second half started with empty raids from both the sides with Nilesh Salunke and Chaudhari breaking the deadlock for the Telugu Titans through their successful raids in an evenly matched clash between both the sides.

For the Lucknow outfit, captain Tomar, alongwith substitute Mahesh Goud, Pankaj, Tomar and Devadiga combined well to earn successful raid points to keep their side in the race with the scoreboard reading 25-all with 29 minutes played.

The match was decided in the dying minutes with U.P Yoddha picking vital extras, bonus points and continuous successful raids to all-out the opponents helping their side take a 36-29 lead with less than four minutes to play.

However, the Hyderabad outfit courtesy of their skipper continued to change gear and heap points through back to back successful raids and tackles which resulted in the all-out of the U.P side for the very first time in the match but failed to continue the dominance.