UP Yoddha’s Pro Kabaddi Season 8 journey came to an end with a 38-27 loss against Patna Pirates in the semi-final at Sheraton Grand, Whitefield in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

The Pirates were on fire from the word go. Mohammedreza Shadloui took six tackle points to lead the attack for the pirates. Sachin Tanwar and Guman Singh took seven and eight raid points, respectively.

As for UP Yoddha, they barely looked comfortable throughout the game. Shrikant Jadhav’s effort of eight raid points and a super tackle, and Ashu Singh’s two super tackles were the only highlights of UP Yoddha’s game.

Pardeep Narwal could pick his first point only 18 minutes through the game while Nitesh Kumar and Sumit got off the mark only in the second half.

Patna Pirates took an early 4-0 lead and in under four minutes, UP Yoddha were reduced to just three defenders - Nitesh Kumar, Ashu and Shubham.

After forcing a do-or-die raid on the Pirates, UP Yoddha, led by Ashu, super-tackled Sachin Tanwar to pick up their first couple of points in the game.

Despite UP Yoddha trying to stage a mini-comeback riding on substitute Shrikant Jadhav’s raids, Patna Pirates inflicted an all-out, going up 11-4 in just 10 minutes.

Down to two men again five minutes later, Ashu Singh once more took super-tackle responsibilities to reduce a 12-point deficit to 16-6. However, the inevitable all-out came for the Yoddha, going up 21-7.

Pardeep Narwal picked his first points of the match with less than two minutes remaining in the first half, picking a point each in consecutive raids.

At half-time, Patna Pirates were sailing with a 14-point lead as the scorecard read 23-9. It had been an all-round performance, with the raiders picking 10 points and the defenders picking nine.

The Pirates extended the lead to 26-10 and UP Yoddha were back to two men on the mat. A Shrikant Jadhav raid followed by a super tackle from him brought UP Yoddha to 13 points.

Shrikant Jadhav almost executed a super raid, but fell agonisingly short – by millimetres. Soon, a third all-out came for UP Yoddha, and a relentless Patna Pirates went up 31-14.

Some good raids from Pardeep Narwal and Shrikant Jadhav and tackles from Nitesh and Sumit reduced UP Yoddha’s deficit at 34-22 with five minutes left.

Patna Pirates were reduced to three men. A Pardeep Narwal raid affected an all-out against Patna Pirates as UP Yoddha got the score to 34-27 with under three minutes left on the clock.

However, Patna Pirates trapped Pardeep Narwal and Shrikant Jadhav in successful raids, going up 38-27 and running down the clock to clinch a spot in the final.