Pro Kabaddi 2018: UP Yoddha beat Patna Pirates; Gujarat Fortunegiants brush aside Jaipur Pink Panthers

UP Yoddha produced an impressive team effort to beat defending champions Patna Pirates 47-31 in a Pro Kabaddi Season 6 match on Sunday. UP Yoddha raiders led by Prashant Kumar Rai (10 points) were in fine form and tormented Patna defence throughout the match. Azad Singh, with 8 points, made a crucial contribution to UP Yoddha’s win. [caption id=“attachment_5741201” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Action from the clash between UP Yoddha and Patna Pirates. Image courtesy: Pro Kabaddi League[/caption] It was a disappointing night for Pardeep Narwal who scored just two points. Manjeet top-scored for Patna Pirates with 10 points. Patna Pirates are still in contention for a place in the play-offs, but will need massive improvement. UP Yoddha can also qualify for the play-offs. Patna Pirates were off to a strong start as Manjeet picked up three raid points to lead 4-0. UP Yoddha came back to level the match 4-4 in the fourth minute. The match was balanced for the first 10 minutes as both teams were tied at 9-9. The biggest surprise was how Pardeep Narwal could not get a single point in the first 15 minutes. Prashanth Kumar Rai made a successful raid as UP Yoddha inflicted an all out to lead 15-10. Pardeep Narwal finally got his first raid point in the 17th minute as Patna trailed 15-18. UP Yoddha led 22-17 at the end of the first half. UP Yoddha were in rampant form in the second half led by Prashanth Kumar Rai. They inflicted an all out in the 22nd minute to lead 26-19. Shrikant Jadhav then produced a raid in the 27th minute to give UP Yoddha 38-21 lead. With Pardeep Narwal misfiring, it was left to Manjeet to get raid points for Patna but it was not enough. Patna’s defensive duo of Jawahar Dagar and Jaideep just could not handle UP Yoddha raiders. UP Yoddha led 43-25 after 34 minutes and then cruised to a comfortable win. Gujarat Fortunegiants victorious Gujarat Fortunegiants continued their fine form as they beat Jaipur Pink Panthers 34-29. It was a solid defensive performance by Gujarat with Ruturaj Koravi and Parvesh Bhainswal leading their charge. Sachin scored 7 raid points for Gujarat while Prapanjan chipped in with 5 points. A slow start cost Jaipur as they rallied to make a comeback but just fell short in the end. Deepak Hooda and Ajinkya Pawar scored eight points each for the losing side.