Pro Kabaddi League 2019: UP Yoddha taste maiden win, beat hosts U Mumba 27-23

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Mumbai, July 31: After facing two humiliating defeats, UP Yoddha tasted their first win in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 as they edged hosts U Mumba 27-23 here at DOME@NSCI on Wednesday (July 31).

With this win, UP Yoddha claimed their third successive win over U Mumba in the Pro Kabaddi. This win comes as a major confidence booster for UP Yoddha who looked out of sorts in their first two games.

PKL 2019 Special Coverage | Results | Points Table | Stats

Seasoned campaigner Rishank Devadiga was included in Yoddha starting seven for the first time in the season and his presence on the mat proved to be the masterstroke. The senior raider wasn't as effective in the raiding department but the senior pro controlled the defenders brilliantly.

U Mumba started proceedings as Abhishek Singh touched UP defender Nitesh Kumar out in the second minute of the first half. Shrikant Jadhav opened UP's account as he earned one raid point and a bonus point for his team and equalised the score 2-2. With that, Jadhav also completed 250 raid points in PKL.

At the end of 10 minutes, UP Yoddha took a slender 2 point lead over U Mumba as the scoreline read 8-6.

Both the teams continued to play for Do-or-die raids as defenders from both the sides didn't allow the raiders to score easily. In the last minute of first-half, UP Yoddha inflicted first all-out of U Mumba and went into the break with a slender yet confident 2 point lead. At half-time, the scoreline read 14-12 in UP's favour.

Presence of Rishank on the mat also helped teams key raider Monu Goyat as the latter played with caution. He wasn't at his raiding best but earned crucial points for his team from time to time.

Yoddha's defence looked much better than hosts as they kept it hard for Mumba raiders to score easily. Young UP defender Sumit claimed 6 tackle points from 7 tackles attempt and shined for his team. While Monu Goyat returned with 6 points from 15 raids he attempted.

With 4 raid points to his name, Rohit Baliyan was the best raider for U Mumba while Surender grabbed 4 tackle points from 8 tackles he attempted. Abhishek Singh and captain Fazel Atrachali were largely ineffective against Yoddha and that was the reason for their narrow defeat.

U Mumba came close to ending the match in a tie when Rishank Devadiga was tackled in the 39th minute of the match by Atracheli when the scoreline read 23-25 in UP's favour. But the umpires found U Mumba captain getting self out as his foot went out of the box giving UP 3 point lead with both teams having just one raid each.

When the final whistle was blown, the scoreline read 23-27 in favour of UP Yoddha. U Mumba thus registered their second consecutive loss in the league.