Pro Kabaddi League Season 6, Match 15: Patna Pirates win against a poor UP Yoddha defense

The results do not seem to favour the UP Yoddha at the Pro Kabaddi League 2018 as they have now succumbed to their third consecutive loss in Season 6. They lost their Sunday evening's match against Patna Pirates 37-43.

UP Yoddha's defense was again to be blamed for a hapless performance where they could manage just 6 tackle points. The Yoddhas had gone into the match with 5 defenders and just 2 raiders as Prashant Kumar Rai was dropped from the starting 7.

The 2 raiders -- the captain, Rishank Devadiga (11 points) and Shrikant Jadhav displayed terrific raiding to score a total of 28 raid points. The young Shrikant is coming into his own as his raiding performances, including Sunday's spectacular 17 points, have helped him carve out a place for himself as the Yoddha's top raider.

The Yoddha coaches and management need to figure out a plan to either find a better set of defenders or make their raiding department stronger in order to compensate for the defensive errors.

Vijay's (R) inclusion strengthened the Patna squad.

The Pirates, on the other hand, put in an all-round performance to secure the match. Both of Patna's key raiders scored a Super-10, with Pardeep Narwal scoring 14 points and Deepak Narwal getting 10 points. The young Manjeet, coming off the bench, too contributed with 3 points at a crucial juncture when the Pirates were facing the threat of an all-out.

It was the decision to include Vijay in the starting 7, which proved to be a masterstroke by the Pirates, as he contributed with 2 raid and 3 tackle points. He provided the Pirates defense the stability and the confidence that they needed.

Jaideep with 3 tackle points, and Tae Deok Eom and Vikas Kale with a point each, too contributed to the Pirates' tackle points. Jawahar had a quiet game where he couldn't manage a single point from his 3 attempted tackles.

The Pirates will next take on the Telugu Titans on Friday the 19th, whereas UP Yoddha would desperately seek for a win against the Bengal Warriors on the 20th of October.