PKL 2019 | Abhishek Singh’s super raid and do or die raid in closing stages proved costly, believes Rishank Devadiga

UP Yoddha were beaten by U Mumba by a very close margin of 36-39 last evening and Mumba’s Abhishek Singh emerged as the star for his side. He not only completed his super 10 and was the best raider from both the teams, but also effected a super raid with six minutes to go in the game which turned the table around in Mumba’s favour. Abhishek also returned successfully after getting rid of Ashu Singh in a do or die raid and that gave Mumba a two-point lead with the scorecard reading 38-36 in the 18th minute of the match.

UP’s senior raider Rishank Devadiga highlighted these two raids as the important moments of the match while speaking to the media after the loss in Pune.   

“The match was pretty evenly contested for the majority of the 40 minutes. Towards the end, we needed points from the defence and instead of scoring some, we ended up giving away one too many points. That I believe was the difference between the two sides today. Abhishek's Super Raid and do-or-die raid in the closing stages proved costly,” Devadiga told reporters.

Skipper Nitesh Kumar had a bad day at the office from the Yoddha camp and coach Jasveer Singh expressed about the same after the game. Nitesh failed to score a single point in the game in five unsuccessful tackle attempts last evening while in the UP defence, Ashu was the best performer with four total points at the cover position.

“The defence did not play well in the final phase. We made uncharacteristic errors in the final few minutes. Had we avoided them, the result would have been completely different,” explained Jasveer.

“He was able to pick up points against Nitesh (Kumar) without giving away any tackle points. That definitely affected our game. He played well today.”