PKL Auctions | What clicked and what didn’t – UP Yoddha
After making their debut in the Pro Kabaddi League in 2017, UP Yoddha have slogged hard to reach the playoffs twice in as many years. However, the raider-heavy unit from Uttar Pradesh failed to reach the finals on both the occasions and will try to break the jinx in their third season.
Last season’s performance
Pretty much like their maiden season in the league, UP Yoddha was the third team to enter the playoffs from Zone B in the previous season as well. With a total of 57 points from 22 matches, UP had finished third on the Zone B points table and made it to the playoffs last year. However, till the last week of the league stage, nobody gave them a chance to make it to the second round after they had a terrible home leg where the Yoddha couldn’t win a single game. The Rishank Devadiga-led side managed to overtake Telugu Titans and Patna Pirates to sneak its way into the playoffs where they first defeated U Mumba and then Dabang Delhi before losing to Gujarat Fortunegiants in the virtual semi-final battle.
Finishing off the season with 100 tackle points, Nitesh Kumar was instrumental in the team’s success with his measured approach in the defence while the trio of Devadiga, Shrikant Jadhav and Prashant Kumar Rai worked out well for the raiding unit. Cover defenders Jeeva Kumar and Narender also came good for the team towards the end of the season and so was left corners Sachin Kumar and Sagar Krishna. The winning momentum in the last one month or so did wonders for the team last year which gave them a second chance to go out and play for a spot in the finals which they eventually failed to grab.
Positive takeaways from the auction
Before coming into the auctions, Team UP made up their mind to retain left side defenders Amit Narwal and Sachin Kumar for season 7. They had a choice of going keeping Nitesh in the side through New Young Player (NYP) retention which they did. They have also kept three more young players Akram Sheikh, Aashish Nagar and Azad Singh. Nitesh will be biggest plus going into the next season considering the fact that he was not only the best right corner from the last edition, he also had the most number of tackle points in the season. They had the corner combination settled before the auctions itself with Nitesh and Sachin while the cover was sorted out by roping in all-rounder Narender for the right cover position with Amit already there at the left. Bringing in Narender for only INR 20 lakh will be considered as a good purchase for the team.
After letting go all their three raiders before the auction, the Yoddha went for star raider Monu Goyat, who didn’t have a great season leading Haryana Steelers in the sixth edition, on the auction table. He was roped in for Rs. 93 lakhs and was given the highest price by the franchise in this year’s auction. Their next two top buys were their last year’s raiders Devadiga and Jadhav for Rs 61 lakh and Rs. 68 lakh respectively. They will also have the services of Iranian Mohsen Maghsoudlou for this season who can be a good back-up for the settled raiding combination. Moreover, the auctions went all right for UP considering the mixture of youth and experience they have in the side ahead of the seventh edition of the league. They also have some core players from the previous season with all the defenders knowing each other well from 2018.
© PKLThreats for next season
Just after the auction, it doesn’t look like the Yoddha will have to face any issues in getting their playing seven ready for the matches. However, the team might lack good back-up options this season in almost all the positions. Especially at the left cover position, if Amit fails to deliver, then they might run short of players for the crucial defensive position which was controlled by the experienced Jeeva Kumar last year. Sachin Kumar also had a good back-up in Sagar Krishna at the left corner which is again not there for the 2019 edition.
UP Yoddha squad
Amit Narwal, Sachin Kumar, Nitesh Kumar, Aashish Nagar, Azad Singh, Akram Shaikh, Monu Goyat, Shrikant Jadhav, Rishank Devadiga, Mohsen Maghsoudloujafari, Narender, Masud Karim, Surender Singh, Gulveer Singh, Gurdeep, Ankush
SportsCafe’s starting 7
Centre – Monu Goyat
Left in – Rishank Devadiga
Right in – Shrikant Jadhav
Left corner – Sachin Kumar
Right corner – Nitesh Kumar
Left cover – Amit
Right cover – Narender
