Surender Gill’s super 10 was overshadowed by Arjun Deshwal’s 11 raid points as UP Yoddha lost to Jaipur Pink Panthers 29-32 at Sheraton Grand, Whitefield in Bengaluru on Monday in their Pro Kabaddi Season 8 game.
Surender scored seven touch points and three bonus points to earn his first super 10 of PKL. Substitute Rohit Tomar got five touch points, one bonus and a tackle point.
While Arjun starred for the Panthers, he was ably supported by captain Deepak Niwas Hooda, who scored nine raid points.
The teams started slowly but Jaipur Pink Panthers remained a step ahead.
Arjun Deshwal and Deepak Hooda soon stepped up for the Panthers in the raiding department to inflict an all-out on UP Yoddha and take a healthy 15-8 lead.
When the teams reassembled, UP Yoddha’s deficit rose to eight, but a successful tackle and a super raid from Surender Gill pulled the team to 12-16.
It was met with a super raid from Deepak Hooda immediately, with the scoreboard reading 19-12 at half-time and three UP Yoddha players having to sit out.
In the second half, UP Yoddha closed the gap to 19-23. The corner combination of Nitesh and Sumit, and a couple of points from substitute Rohit Tomar aided in this partial recovery.
Jaipur Pink Panthers took a seven-point lead with seven minutes to go with a scoreline of 28-21. A back-to-back tackle and raid from Rohit reduced the deficit by four points with five minutes left.
With under two minutes to go, Surender picked up a bonus that brought him the first Super 10 of PKL 8.
Three quick raids from Rohit brought UP Yoddha to 29-30, but a final 2-point raid from Deepak Hooda helped the match end in the Panthers’ favour.
UP Yoddha slipped by a spot to the seventh position in the PKL points table with seven points. The Panthers have climbed to the third position with 11 points.
UP Yoddha will next play Gujarat Giants on Wednesday in Bengaluru.