UP Yoddha had a forgettable day in the office as they slumped to a heavy defeat at the hands of Bengal Warriors by a margin of 31 points at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad.
UP Yoddha left Rishank Devadiga out of the 12 due to a possible lack of match fitness, and in his absence, Monu Goyat had to be the leader of the raiding department. Bengal Warriors, on the other hand, had their strongest 7 on the mat with much-talked-about Iranian Nabibakhsh making his Pro Kabaddi debut.
It was UP Yoddha that started the scoring as Amit pulled in a successful tackle. Yoddhas continued the bright start as they forced mistakes by the Bengal raiders and hit the Bengal defence hard, with astute raids. Nabibakhsh was caught by the UP defence in his maiden Pro Kabaddi raid, pegging the Warriors back. UP Yoddha got to a 4-3 lead, which then rose to a 5-4 lead before Bengal Warriors started the comeback.
Maninder Singh, Nabibakhsh and Baldev Singh got into their own as they pulled off successful raids and tackles and put Bengal Warriors 11-6 ahead.
After a couple of empty raids from either side, Maninder showed what he is capable of, as he pulled off a stunning two-point raid. Surender Singh then got a raid point, after a failed attempt by Iranian Nabibakhsh, however, K Prapanjan sent a UP ride packing, while Rinku Narwal then executed a brilliant ankle-hold to add to Bengal’s lead, with the score now reading 17-9 in the favour of the Bengal Warriors at half-time.
Bengal Warriors came out stronger in the second-half as they inflicted an all-out with Nabibakhsh leading the charge. The score now rose up to 25-10 with Bengal Warriors 15 points ahead.
K Prapanjan got yet another successful raid, while Nabibhakhsh display just why he was made the most expensive foreign signing as he wreaked havoc, claiming a super raid and sending UP Yoddha packing. Bengal was now 21 points ahead with the score at 34-13.
UP then seemingly further lost the plot as they gave away easy points to the Bengal Warriors. Though Monu Goyat was the shining light and got pulled some points back for the Yoddha’s, it was all going downhill for the GMR Group-owned side.
Nabibakhsh was at it yet again, as he inflicted another all-out on UP Yoddha, while Baldev Singh was rock solid in defence, not allowing the Yoddha’s raiders an inch. They completed their Super 10 and High 5 respectively. UP Yoddha were down and out and ended losing the game 48-17, in what is the biggest loss of Pro Kabaddi Season 7 thus far.
Starting Seven
UP Yoddha Starting Line-Up: Nitesh Kumar (C), Monu Goyat, Narender, Amit, Surender Singh, Shrikant Jadhav, Sachin Kumar.
Bengal Warriors Starting Line-Up: K. Prapanjan, Naveen Narwal, Jeeva Kumar, Mohammad Nabibakhsh, Maninder Singh (C), Baldev Singh, Rinku Narwal.
Top Performers
Bengal Warriors
Top Raider – Mohammad Esmaeil Nabibakhsh (10 points)
Top Defender – Baldev Singh (7 points)
UP Yoddha
Top Raider – Monu Goyat (5 points)
Top Defender – Nitesh Kumar (2 points)
