After a disheartening defeat against Dabang Delhi last night, Yoddha will be determined to get back to winning terms as they face Puneri Paltan at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex, Delhi, on Monday. While Monu and Sumit’s form will be key tonight, it will not be an easy task to break the confidence of the Paltan, who are coming off a victory against a strong Bengaluru Bulls.

Their Raiders

Puneri Paltan have a mix of raiders and the team prefers to play around with their combination. From time to time, players such as Pankaj Mohite and Amit Kumar have stepped up and delivered some match-winning performances. The team boasts of experienced raiders such as Nitin Tomar and Darshan Kadian as well. However, the centre of attraction will be the young, in-form Manjeet, who takes charge as their leading raider.

To tackle this multi-faceted raiding contingent, we will have our two able corners, skipper Nitesh at right and Sumit at left. Both have been impressive and will be hungry for more points as they plan to step on the mat in pursuit of a much-needed win.

Their defenders

Skipper Surjeet leads the Paltan defence and has been in a good form recently. While he takes care of the right cover, Paltan have Sanket Sawant in the left cover. The left and right corners are secured by Girish Ernak and Shubham Shinde respectively. The experienced combination of Ernak in the left corner and Surjeet in the right cover can be a matter of concern for our right raiders, Rishank, Monu and Surender. The left corner looks a relatively harmless end to attack and that is where Shrikant Jadhav comes in handy.

Monu and Shrikant both have been consistent recently, and that is a positive the Yoddha will want to bank on. Rishank’s availability remains uncertain with regards to his injury, while Surender will have to be consistent and put up the kind of performance he delivered against Panthers for Yoddha to go into the match with a compact strategy.

Head-to-head

U.P. Yoddha 1-2 Puneri Paltan