UP Yoddha lost to Patna Pirates 35-37 after fighting till the last minute and despite a Surender Gill super 10 in the Pro Kabaddi Season 8 game at Sheraton Grand, Whitefield.

This was also the first time that UP Yoddha started without record-breaker Pardeep Narwal. Youngster Aman Hooda made his Pro Kabaddi League debut, featuring in the starting seven.

Surender Gill took over as the lead raider and earned his sixth super 10 of PKL 8. Shrikant Jadhav got nine raid points while Nitesh Kumar got three tackle points.

With 12 points, Sachin Tanwar got his second super 10 of PKL 8. Corner defender Shadloui stood strong to bring up his fourth high 5 of the season.

UP Yoddha went up 5-2 early on, but consecutive successful raids from Sachin Tanwar brought the Patna Pirates to 5-all in the first six minutes of the game.

Despite the teams moving at par, UP Yoddha were down to three men, with the Pirates taking a slender 8-7 lead in the 10th minute.

A Sachin Tanwar raid took out two UP Yoddha defenders. It was followed by an unsuccessful raid from substitute Sahil, affecting a UP Yoddha all-out. The Pirates took a 13-8 lead.

Lagging 8-16, UP Yoddha were once more down to three defenders - Ashu, Shubham and Sumit. This time the team super tackled a roaring Sachin Tanwar to take the scoreboard to 13-19.

A strong comeback from UP Yoddha after a two-point raid from Surender Gill took the deficit to five points at 20-15 at half-time.

Within the first two minutes of the second half, a two consecutive successful raids from Surender Gill and a tackle on Prashanth Kumar Rai helped UP Yoddha force an all-out on Patna Pirates. The scoreboard read 21-21.

Shrikant almost pulled off a powerful two-point raid, dragging the two Pirates with him. But the referee's decision was overturned after a review showed that Shrikant’s hand had not gone across the white line.

While UP Yoddha kept a consistent lead of two points for at least the next five minutes, Patna Pirates clawed back after a strategic time-out. At 28-all, UP Yoddha were down to three men again.

Patna Pirates seized this advantage and inflicted an all-out, despite Pardeep Narwal coming in as a substitute for the lone man standing and attempting a revival. The team was handed their second all-out, with the Pirates taking a 33-29 lead with three minutes left.

Despite UP Yoddha reducing the deficit to two points with under 90 seconds on the clock, Patna Pirates put in some quick raids and tackles to take the lead to 37-32 with a minute left.

Shrikant Jadhav put in two consecutive successful raids but could only close the gap to 35-37, losing their fourth game in a row.

UP Yoddha now have 42 points in 16 games and are sixth in the PKL standings.

UP Yoddha’s next match is against Telugu Titans on Saturday.