Pro Kabaddi League: UP Yoddhas defeat Puneri Paltan to win their final regular-season match of the ninth season
On Friday, UP Yoddhas beat Puneri Paltan 45-41 at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad to ensure that their opponent does not enter the playoffs as the Vivo Pro Kabaddi Season nine league leaders.
The Pro Kabaddi regular season is over.Puneri Paltan and UP Yoddhas looked to keep the momentum going before heading to Mumbai for the playoffs and put on a show for the crowd.
The regulars had been benched for this encounter, but in their absence, the substitutes seized their chance to shine.
The attacks of Aditya Shinde and Saurabh helped Puneri Paltan to their first all-out of the match, giving them a 19-10 lead. However, just before the half-time break, the UP Yoddhas turned the game back in their favour, thanks to a super raid by Anil Kumar that took out Shinde, D Mahindra-Prasad, and Akash Chaudhary.
At the end of the first half, Puneri Paltan led 22-19.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Playoff-bound Yoddhas clinch a narrow win 🤩<br><br>They end their league stage on a high against the Paltan❗<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vivoProKabaddi?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#vivoProKabaddi</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FantasticPanga?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FantasticPanga</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PUNvUP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PUNvUP</a> <a href="https://t.co/lP10Im6uKH">pic.twitter.com/lP10Im6uKH</a></p>— ProKabaddi (@ProKabaddi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ProKabaddi/status/1601249011016794112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 9, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The UP Yoddhas managed to equalise with an all-out at the start of the second half, and from then on, a war of attrition began. It was a testimony to the strength of UP Yoddhas that despite Pardeep Narwal Puneri Paltan's poor day, they inflicted another all-out to take the lead.
Durgesh Kumar's Super Raid had turned the tables on Puneri Paltan, who were suddenly on the ropes.
Puneri Paltan stepped on the gas in the last three minutes hoping to close the gap, but a series of super tackles ensured that UP Yoddhas' lead remained intact.
Puneri Paltan came close again at the end, but UP Yoddhas had done enough to earn the win.