Intense Yoddha hand Titans their sixth loss of the season

The rematch between superstar raiders Rahul Chaudhari and Nitin Tomar was tipped to be an exciting one on Saturday in VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5, and it lived up to the hype. But at the end of it all, it was the Yoddha who emerged victorious 39-32 at The Arena in Ahmedabad.

Chaudhari won the toss and chose his team’s side of the mat. The very first raid of the match by Yoddha captain Tomar was foiled by Titans young wonder Vishal Bhardwaj. Rishank Devadiga, back after an injury, though soon gave U.P. Yoddha their first point of the match. The match, thereafter, had a very even look with points getting added at regular intervals and a do-or-die raid situation arising only in the 7th minute.

However, the best moment of the half came holding the hand of none other than Raid Machine Chaudhari as he pulled a brilliant super raid that got his team four points. Soon after though, the Yoddha fought back to make it 11-11 at the 15th-minute mark and a couple of do-or-die raids later, the well-fought half ended in favour of U.P. Yoddha 14-13.

The second half started with Chaudhari and Tomar’s empty raids but the rest of the half turned out to be different. Points came in spades for both the teams, with none wanting to retreat. By the 24th minute, Chaudhari had not spent a single minute off the court but he couldn’t get away from a Yoddha super tackle. The Yoddha foiled two All-Out attempts by the Titans to keep the scoreline ticking, but were eventually handed their first All-Out in the 28th minute.

However, from the 33rd minute onwards, the match started tilting the Yoddha’s way, courtesy of Tomar’s super raid. Within minutes, the Titans were handed their first All-Out which took the scoreline to 36-29 in favour of the Yoddha. Both Tomar and Chaudhari picked up a Super 10 each but it was the former who ended up on the winning side as the Yoddha claimed the contest 39-32.

It was heartbreak for Telugu Titans yet again as their seven-match winless streak continues. Another point of concern for them was a suspected knee injury sustained by young raider Rakshith, who had already picked up 6 points before exiting the mat in pain.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.