UP Yoddha produced a terrific all-round performance to knock out favourites U Mumba in the first eliminator of Pro Kabaddi League season 6 in Kochi on Sunday, 30 December.
Yoddha were in control for most of the match and notched up a 34-29 win in front of a packed crowd.
Nitesh Kumar came up with one of the best defensive performances and scored 8 points to lead UP to victory.
UP Yoddha's defence scored 18 tackle points on a night where they tamed U Mumba's star raider Siddharth Desai.
Desai scored just seven raid points but all credit to the Yoddha to contain him. Shrikant Jadhav and Prashant Kumar Rai combined to score 9 crucial raid points in UP's win.
Both teams made a solid start and were on equal footing for the first five minutes. Shrikant and Siddharth picked up the raid points for their teams.
It was 5-5 after five minutes but UP Yoddha switched gears then. In the 8th minute they inflicted an all out to leads 11-7.
U Mumba were missing the spark and were a bit lackluster in the first half. At the end of the first half, Yoddha led 18-15 and it was anyone's game.
UP Yoddha continued their fine form in the second half as well. Their defence did a fine job on Desai and Rohit Balliyan.
Shrikant picked up a two-point raid in the 27th minute to give UP Yoddha 25-18 lead.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first with UP defence in solid form. Jeeva Kumar and Nitesh Kumar didn't allow too many points and made crucial tackles throughout the match.
Roshan Devadiga and Prashant Kumar Rai picked up raid points at crucial intervals.
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