In Match 9 of VIVO Pro Kabaddi (PKL 2018) season six, Pardeep Narwal’s Patna Pirates will lock horns with UP Yoddha led by Rishank Devadiga at Jawahar Lal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai. In the three matches played between the two teams in PKL 5, Pirates and Yoddha won a match each and one ended in a tie. All their matches in PKL 5 were close encounters, finishing within a point difference of 5. Two of these have been high scoring matches where both teams scored 40-plus points.
Player Battle: Pardeep Narwal vs Rishank Devadiga
Patna Pirates and UP Yoddha skippers – Pardeep and Rishank—are among the best raiders in the history of Pro Kabaddi League. Rishank is ranked seventh on the list of all-time top raid point scorers while Pardeep is placed at second spot. In PKL 5 Pardeep took the mat by storm and scored 369 raid points which consists of nineteen Super 10s, the most by any raider in PKL 5. Rishank on the other hand was the second-best raider for UP Yoddha, only two points behind Nitin Tomar with 165 raid points. Pardeep Narwal had great success against Yoddha as he scored 37 raid points in three matches at an average of 12.3 including two Super-10s. Pardeep Narwal also has a great record against UP Yoddha’s most experience defender, Jeeva Kumar leading the head-to-head battle by (Pardeep) 17-7 (Jeeva)
UP Yoddha Team news
Yoddha captain Rishank Devadiga started his PKL 6 campaign on a defensive note, as other raiders were continuously scoring points in their first game against Tamil Thalaivas. UP Yoddha’s raiding unit put up a collective performance against Tamil Thalaivas, scoring 18 raid points in total. They started off the match strongly as all the three raiders got raid points in the initial 12-0 run which proved crucial to UP Yoddha’s victory, and which was the second-best start ever in PKL history. Prashanth Kumar Rai was their most successful raider scoring eight raid points and getting tackled just twice throughout the game with a strike rate of 47. Shrikant Jadhav has scored five raid points in just seven raids at a raid strike rate of 72.
Patna Pirates Team news
Defending Champions Patna Pirates lost their first match of the tournament against the Tamil Thalaivas, despite the late surge of raid points from Pardeep Narwal and Manjeet. However, Pirates defense let them down as they scored just two points. The Thalaivas’ defense was well prepared for the Dubki King in the first half, not allowing him to touch the centre with his favourite Dubki move. Pardeep Narwal was tackled thrice in the first half and spent a total of 10 minutes off court throughout the game. In the absence of Pardeep it was expected that Deepak Narwal will show some grit but he failed to register a single raid point from his 5 raids. However, Debutant Manjeet stepped up in the second half where he scored seven out of his eight raid points, helping Pardeep Narwal to spark the comeback effort. In the second half, Pardeep Narwal started to score quick raid points. He ended the match with a Super 10 after scoring 11 points with a strike rate of 61.
Match 9: Patna Pirates vs UP Yoddha match details and live streaming info
Date: October 9, Thursday
Time: 8:00 pm (IST)
Venue: Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai
Patna Pirates vs UP Yoddha match will be broadcast on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD in English and Star Sports 1 Hindi and Star Sports 1 HD Hindi in Hindi.
Patna Pirates vs UP Yoddha: Starting probable seven
UP Yoddha: Nitesh Kumar (Right Corner), Rishank Devadiga (Right In), Narender (Right cover), Prashanth Kumar Rai (Center), Jeeva Kumar (Left cover), Shrikant Jadhav (Left in), Sagar Krishna (Left Corner)
Patna Pirates: Jawahar (Right Corner), Pardeep Narwal (Right In), Manish (Right Cover), Deepak Narwal (Center), Vikas Kale (Left Cover), Manjeet (Left In), Jaideep (Left Corner)