The Yoddhas hoped that home court advantage would turn their flagging fortunes around, but in the opening minutes.
The UP Yoddhas broke a four-match winless streak as they beat the Bengaluru Bulls 34-33 at the Noida Indoor Stadium in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 match on Friday.
Despite a slow start, Pardeep Narwal registered 10 points to help the home side over the line in a game of fine margins.
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The Yoddhas hoped that home court advantage would turn their flagging fortunes around, but in the opening minutes, it seemed unlikely. In the early going, their talisman Pardeep Narwal looked to be suffering, registering his first point on his ninth raid of the evening. Fortunately, the Bulls were facing struggles of their own. Both teams’ weaknesses were exposed on a series of DO OR DIE raids midway through the half.
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The game came to life in the final minute of the half, as Pardeep Narwal followed up on his first successful raid with two more in succession, reducing the Bulls to a single player just as the whistle blew for the break.
The Yoddhas cleaned up right at the start of the second half to inflict the first ‘ALL OUT’ and take an 18-14 lead. This did not deter the Bulls, though, who kept coming at the Yoddhas and made sure they could never extend their lead. The raid was matched by raids and tackles by smarter tackles. Saurabh Nandal, in particular, was the architect of the Bulls defence, having pulled off an exceptional four successful tackles from five attempts as the game went into the final five minutes.
Some clinical play saw the Yoddhas inflict a second ‘ALL OUT’ on the Bulls to take a 33-26 lead with three minutes to go. Narwal wrapped up a ‘SUPER 10’ with a minute of the game remaining, but the Bulls refused to give up and came close to registering an all-important all-out in the dying seconds. As it was though, Sushil could not get both the Yoddhas players out to leave the Bulls short by one point.
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