A defeat despite impressive performance in our last match has left U.P. Yoddha eager to bounce back in form, and in pursuit of a victory, we will face Tamil Thalaivas at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Saturday.
Their raiders
The star-studded Thalaivas squad boasts of raiders such as Ajay Thakur and Rahul Chaudhari. Captain Thakur, however, has failed to pull off what was expected of him. Chaudhari has been consistent this season, a young Ajith Kumar is playing his second fiddle lately, while Sabbir Bapu, the team’s third raider, has taken a backseat as an all-rounder.
Chaudhari, who has a knack of attacking from the right and go deep in the mat will face Sumit’s ankle holds and Ashu’s dashes. Left-raider Kumar, confident after his 18-point encounter against Puneri Paltan, can be prey to Nitesh, who will be ready with his signature ankle holds at the right corner.
Nitesh, the quickest to 150 tackle points among many other achievements, and Sumit, currently holding the third spot in the list of most successful defenders of the season, will be our defenders to watch out for.
Their defenders
Though the team has one of ProKabaddi’s legendary defenders, Manjeet Chhillar, it has helped them little this season. Owing to Manjeet’s inconsistency, the Thalaivas defense tends make silly errors which our raiders will have to use to their benefit. Mohit Chhillar and Ran Singh, the two corners, are the players our raiders will have to be wary of.
With Shrikant attacking from left and Rishank and Surender from right, a balanced Yoddha raiding force can be on top of the Thalaivas defense which is struggling to find a concrete game-plan. Shrikant has been carrying a brilliant form and has fetched the most raiding points recently, bagging 95 raid points from the season. Rishank, a bundle of experience who guides the team on the mat alongside raiding, did not have the start he wanted this season due to injuries, but has announced himself with back-to-back impressive performances with 8 and 9 points respectively from the previous matches.
Form guide:
U.P. Yoddha: L W W W W
Tamil Thalaivas: T L L L L
