U.P. Yoddha will lock horns with Tamil Thalaivas in the 33rd match of the Pro Kabaddi League at the Sheraton Grand Whitefield in Bengaluru on Tuesday. Both teams tied their previous matches on the first day of the year.
The Thalaivas is ranked 5th on the points table while the Yoddhas is ranked 7th as a solitary point differentiates the two teams. A win will take the Yoddhas into the top half of the table. The team from northern India will have an eye on their score difference which is -7 and will come into play in the latter stages of the season.
Until the previous match, the key problem for both the teams was firing as a unit. They had individual performers who had impressed but lacked consistency as a team. The Tamil Thalaivas were poor as a defensive unit in the first half against Dabang Delhi but their performance was better in the latter half when Naveen Kumar was off the mat.
U.P. Yoddha will be hoping that the other raiders step up to the occasion as Pardeep Narwal hasn’t looked at his best so far. He picked up only 4 points in the previous match and Surender Gill stepped up to the occasion scoring 8 points.
How have they done so far?
The Tamil Thalaivas have tied 3 matches in their 5 matches so far and have won just a solitary match. The franchise gave up a lead of more than 7 points against Telugu Titans and U Mumba but reducing the deficit against Dabang Delhi will inspire confidence among the players.
U.P. Yoddha battled through a tough match against U Mumba. No team had grabbed a lead of more than 4 points in the encounter. In spite of Pardeep’s lackluster form, the Yoddhas have grabbed 209 raids which is the second-most by a team this season.
Head to head record
The two teams have shared honors in three out of the 8 matches so far. Tamil Thalaivas have two matches while the Yoddhas have been victorious in three of them. The previous match between the two sides was played in PKL 7 and it ended in a 28-28 tie.
Key Players
Surender Gill: He picked 8 raid points in the previous match and has scored 29 raid points in PKL 8 so far. Gill has been unsuccessful in only 16% of the raids in this season and in spite of playing second fiddle, he has been on the mat for more than 70% of the occasions.
Ajinkya Pawar: Ajinkya Pawar has been a super sub for the Thalaivas so far. In their only victory of the season against the Puneri Paltan, he scored points on 4 consecutive do-or-die and is one of the players to watch out for in this season.
Predicted Starting 7s
Tamil Thalaivas is second on the list of most tackle points(53)
U.P. Yoddha: Pardeep Narwal, Rohit Tomar, Surender Gill, Ashu Singh, Gurdeep, Nitesh Kumar, Sumit
Tamil Thalaivas: K Prapanjan, Manjeet, Athul MS, Sagar, Surjeet Singh, Bhavani Rajput, Ajinkya Pawar
Prediction
Both the teams have won only one match in the competition so far. However, if we analyze the performances closely, the Thalaivas have been the superior side and fortunes haven’t favored them on most occasions this season. The Surjeet Singh-led side will hold a definite advantage against the Yoddha in the upcoming season.