PKL | UP Yoddha hold their nerve to end Bengaluru’s unbeaten run

08/05/2017

In the second match of the day, UP Yoddha managed to hold their nerve to beat Bengaluru Bulls 32-27 in Nagpur. The game saw a face-off between two of the most expensive players in PKL 2017 with Rohit Kumar and Nitin Tomar going head to head where Tomar trumped his counterpart.

UP’s all round performance gives them a big half time lead

Nitin Tomar won the toss and chose the court and invited Bengaluru Bulls to raid first.And Tomar started the proceedings for UP with a bonus point and that set the tone for the away side to race to a 3-0 lead. However, Rohit Kumar opened Bengaluru’s account with an acrobatic couple of raid points to reduce the deficit to just one. UP Yoddha’s strong defence then helped the team to extend their lead to 7-2 and Rishank Devadiga’s two successful raid points helped UP Yoddha to recall their skipper Nitin Tomar back onto the mat. Now, with their skipper now back in the fray, Yodha continued to go from strength to strength as they enjoyed a five point lead with just over 6 minutes to go. Moreover, UP even managed to send Bengaluru skipper Rohit Kumar off the mat with a strong tackle as they enjoyed a 6 point cushion at 13-7, with just over a minute to go in the first session. Finally, just before end of the first half, UP managed to inflict the first all out of the game on Bangalore to go into the break with the score at 18-8.

UP hold off a late comeback to end Bengaluru’s unbeaten run

After a round of empty raids each in the second half, Ajay Kumar added one raid point to Bengaluru's account before going off the mat. Bengaluru needed a good start to the second half if they were going to make a comeback into the game, but it seemed unlikely as neither Rohit Kumar nor Ajay Kumar managed to breach UP’s defence. With just over ten minutes to go in the second half, UP enjoyed a healthy nine point lead with the score at 22-13. But just when it seemed like there was no way back for Bengaluru, Rohit Kumar inflicted a superb all out on the Yodha’s to make it a 5 point game at 20-25. In response, Tomar managed a super raid which gave them an important seven point lead at 28-21. And the intensity of the game intensified further as the umpire showed a yellow card to Rajesh Narwal for dissent. But before this incident, Rohit Kumar managed to pull things back for the home side as he secured three points to reduce the deficit to 29-25. But his efforts weren’t enough on the night as UP held their nerve to emerge victories with the final score at 32-27.