U.P. Yoddhas, owned by the GMR Group, were handed a disheartening 31-40 loss by Puneri Paltan in match 58 of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 9 at Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi in Pune on Friday, November 4.

The Yoddhas opened their account in the tie with a defensive tackle point thanks to Sumit but soon saw star raiders Pardeep Narwal and Surender Gill walk back to the bench. The score read 3-3 after five minutes.

UP Yoddhas' struggles continued as the Gill-Pardeep pairing were once again restricted from scoring points by the resolute Puneri Paltan defence. Halfway into the first half, the score read 5-9 in favour of Puneri Paltan. Puneri had a dominating spell and inflicted an All-Out on the Yoddhas, thereby ending the first-half with a 19-11 lead.

Come the second half, Puneri Paltan saw their lead cut down by three points as U.P. Yoddhas inflicted an All-Out on the former. The Yoddhas, trailing 18-21, saw a Super Raid from Surender Gill to remain in the contest with a two-point deficit (22-24).

That was the closest UP Yoddhas got to Puneri Paltans in the game. Thereafter, Puneri Paltans registered another dominating spell with a second All-Out on the U.P. Yoddhas to jump to an 11-point lead.

Pardeep Narwal made some late attempts to resuscitate U.P. Yoddhas' challenge in the fixture but he could not convert the game in their favour. The game ended with Puneri Paltan claiming a 40-31 victory.