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The UP Yoddha finished their woeful home campaign with yet another loss under their belt, as a 27-37 decimation at the hands of the Bengaluru Bulls saw the hosts finish with a winless home campaign, a first in this edition of the Pro Kabaddi League.
In five home games, the Yoddha fell to three losses, two against the Bengaluru Bulls while the two tied encounters against the Telugu Titans and Bengal Warriors were the only sporadic bright sparks in a faltering campaign.
The raiding trio of Rishank Devadiga, Shrikant Jadhav and Prashant Rai failed to apply their skill set to perform consistently while the corner defenders Nitesh Kumar and Sachin Kumar were responsible to lead the way with a good set of blocks and holds.
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In the end, the Yoddha's overall inconsistency hurt their cause as their opposition teams made merry at the home of the Yoddha in which a few raiders jumped back into form to pile the pressure on the home team.
Here are the top five raiders from the UP leg.
#5 Naveen Kumar - Dabang Delhi K.C
The young raider was a force to reckon with as his nippy raiding stood out in Delhi's two games during the UP leg. Against the defence-heavy Gujarat Fortunegiants, Naveen lured tackles from the likes of Sunil Kumar and Ruturaj Koravi to finish with eight raid points but unfortunately finished on the wrong side of the result.
In eight games thus far, Naveen has picked up just two 'Super 10s' but his ability to continually chip away with the points, either through perfectly executed bonus points or the running hand touch was on display when Delhi took on UP in a game that saw the youngster agonizingly missing out on his third Super-10, finishing with nine points.
Overall, Naveen finished with 17 points from two games at a healthy average of 8.5 raid points per match.
#4 Sukesh Hegde - Tamil Thalaivas
The Tamil Thalaivas came into the contest against the UP Yoddha after a long rest from their previous encounter and with the likes of Ajay Thakur, Amit Hooda, Jasvir Singh in the team, the Thalaivas were expected to emerge victorious against the Yoddha.
That is what transpired as the Thalaivas, powered by a dominating spell of raiding from Sukesh Hegde ran riot against the Yoddha defence which saw them finish with a 46-24 win over the hosts.
The first half belonged to the raiding prowess of Sukesh Hegde, who was playing only his fourth match of the season owing to an injury that kept him out of the action for the first five matches. With just 12 points from four games, Sukesh had to make a statement and he did manage to put an end to his dry spell, picking up nine raid points in the first half.
Although he was not asked to raid much in the second half which saw him miss out from a well deserved 'Super 10', Sukesh had done well to give the Thalaivas the required momentum.
#3 Dong Geon Lee - Gujarat Fortunegiants
The Korean raider donned the role of the lead raider in a game that witnessed Sachin Tanwar failing to find his bearings, forcing the Korean to assume the majority of the raiding duties.
In only his second start of the season after his poor start against the Puneri Paltan, Lee made optimum use of the faith entrusted on him as he made the likes of Joginder Narwal and Ravinder Pahal dive at his ankles and in vain as the Korean jumped and slipped away to collect easy points.
With an ability to pinch the bonus at a quick pace, Dong Geon Lee's raiding was laced with pace and accuracy as he picked his first ever 'Super 10' in the history of the league and finished with ten points, ensuring that the Fortunegiants did not fall behind at any time during the course of the game.
#2 Rohit Kumar - Bengaluru Bulls
The Bulls skipper was in fine nick during the UP leg as he put to dust his moderate run with a 'Super 10' against the UP Yoddha in the first meeting of the two teams during the UP leg of this edition.
In a match that saw Pawan Sehrawat failing to make a mark, Rohit Kumar stood up to the occasion as he went about his task with precision and on more than one occasion, kept the Bulls away from troubled waters with a combination of touch points and the bonus point as he came on to raid as the lone man on the mat.
The Bulls and the Yoddha met for the second time in the latter's home leg and although Pawan bounced back to his roaring form, Rohit Kumar kept chipping away with the points as barring the Yoddha corners, none of the other UP defenders had a good outing.
In two games, Rohit finished with 21 points with a healthy average of 10.5 raid points per game.
#1 Maninder Singh - Bengal Warriors
Having missed out from the Warriors' assignment against the Patna Pirates, Maninder Singh was back in action against the Yoddha and was in pristine touch as he picked up a 'Super-10', finishing with 14 raid points from 21 raids as he kept the threat of the UP defenders at bay.
Such was Maninder's impact that he scored close to half of the Warriors' points on the day as his 14 points from the total 30 points single-handedly ensured that the Warriors were not pushed on the back seat all through the game.
In the final few minutes of the game, Maninder's ability to pick the bonus point and effect touch points went a long way to add pressure on the Yoddha as Bengal held on to finish with a 30-30 tie, highlighted by Maninder's raiding prowess on the day which kept the Surjeet Singh-led side away from a loss.
