A staggering second-half display that saw them outscore Tamil Thalaivas by 21 points gave U.P. Yoddha a 42-22 victory over Tamil Thalaivas at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Saturday. With this victory, U.P. Yoddha climbed above U Mumba and Bengaluru Bulls to the fourth spot in the vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 7 standings.

Shrikant Jadhav once again led the U.P. Yoddha attack with eight raid points to his name.

Raiders Rahul Chaudhari and V Ajith Kumar gave Tamil Thalaivas the perfect start by helping them build a 6-2 lead inside five minutes and reducing U.P. Yoddha down to just two men. U.P. Yoddha fought back to score three points on the trot, but two touch points from Chaudhari in quick succession left them with just a sole man on the mat and Tamil Thalaivas’ defence made no mistake in pinning the raider down to inflict the game’s first All Out, taking an 11-6 lead.

Ajith and Chaudhari continued to add points to their team’s score, but U.P. Yoddha managed to match them point-for-point to ensure that Tamil Thalaivas stay within touching distance on the scoreboard. With the score at 14-9 in Tamil Thalaivas’ favour, U.P. Yoddha raider Shrikant Jadhav went in for the final raid of the half and delivered a four-point Super Raid that not only cut his team’s deficit to one but also reduced Tamil Thalaivas down to a solitary man on the mat.

Left Corner Sumit scored a High 5 in U.P. Yoddha’s big win over Tamil Thalaivas.

Seconds into the second half, U.P. Yoddha’s defence tackled down Manjeet Chhillar to inflict an All Out and take a 16-15 lead in the contest. With momentum on their side, U.P. Yoddha scored six further unanswered points, split evenly between their raiders and defenders, before Surender Gill got a touch point on Mohit Chhillar that reduced Tamil Thalaivas down to a sole man on that mat yet again. U.P. Yoddha’s defence made short work of Ran Singh to enforce another All Out and extend their lead to 10.

U.P. Yoddha continued their rampant run and scored nine of the next 11 points of the contest, inflicting a third All Out in under 13 minutes to take a 17-point lead. Devadiga then scored a point each in two consecutive raids before Sumit tackled Chaudhari to complete his High 5, extending U.P. Yoddha’s lead to 21.

Ran Singh and Abishek’s tackle points, split by Ajith’s successful raid in the dying moments of the contest, not only cut the deficit to 19 but also saw the first time in the half where Tamil Thalaivas managed to score three points on the trot.

Substitute Gurdeep’s tackle on Ajith in the buzzer raid was the final point scored in the contest, as U.P. Yoddha emerged victorious by a margin of 20 points.  

Top Performers:

U.P. Yoddha

Top Raider – Shrikant Jadhav (8 Raid Points)

Top Defender – Sumit (5 Tackle Points)

Tamil Thalaivas

Top Raider – Rahul Chaudhari (5 Raid Points)

Top Defender – Ran Singh (3 Tackle Points)