Pardeep Narwal's form boost for UP Yoddhas against wooden spooners Telugu Titans

The 22-year-old has already picked up three Super 10s in PKL 9.

Bottom-placed Telugu Titans next face UP Yoddhas in PKL 9 on Monday. The Titans' poor form continued with the defeat against Gujarat Giants (30-19) in their first match of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) season 9 Pune leg. The southern side looked in good form in the first half taking the lead but lost plot in the second half. Ankit in the defence put in a valiant effort scoring a high 5.

UP Yoddhas like Telugu Titans started the Pune leg on a losing note against Patna Pirates (29-34). Pardeep Narwal scored a super 10 but did not get good support from other raiders at a crucial juncture. Surender Gill had an off day and could only score four raid points with the defence off-balance. 

Team News

UP Yoddhas

Raiders: Pardeep Narwal, Surender Gill, Nitin Tomar, Anil Kumar, Mahipal, Rohit Tomar, Aman, Durgesh Kumar, Rathan K, Gulveer Singh.

All-Rounders: Gurdeep, Nehal Desai, Nitin Panwar

Defenders: Nitesh Kumar, Sumit, Ashu Singh, Shubham Kumar, Abozar Mohajermighani, Babu M, Jaideep

Telugu Titans 

Raiders: Abhishek Singh, Monu Goyat, Siddharth Sirish Desai, Rajnish, Ankit Beniwal, Vinay, Aman Kadian.

Defenders: Surjeet Singh, Parvesh Bhainswal, Vishal Bhardwaj, Adarsh T, Ravinder Pahal, Vijay Kumar, Nitin, Mohit, Mohit Pahal. Muhammed Shihas S.

All-Rounders: Mohsen Maghsoudlou Jafari, K Hanumanthu, Hamid Mirzaei Nader, Ravinder.

Head-to-Head

UP Yoddhas and Telugu Titans have faced each other in 10 matches at the Pro Kabaddi League out of which, UP Yoddhas have won six matches whereas Telugu Titans have come out victorious on two occasions with two matches ending in a tie.

Player to watch

Abhishek Singh from Telugu Titans made a return to the squad after an ankle injury prevented him from playing the Bengaluru leg. Abhishek was brought in as a late substitute against Gujarat Giants, but wasn't effective. The raider had a good time last season with U Mumba and will slowly look to get back to form in PKL season 9.

Pardeep Narwal will be more confident after a good start to the Pune leg scoring a super 10. The defence of the Telugu Titans hasn't been effective and the “dubki king” will look to make use of the opportunity to break the Telugu Titans' defence.

Key to Success

Ankit Beniwal and Abhishek Singh both played in the last encounter and will be the player to watch out for Telugu Titans. Ankit Beniwal was retained in season 9 after playing well last season along with Rajnish. Abhishek will need some game time to get back to form but Telugu Titans don't have much time left.

The defence of UP Yoddhas has been poor for the past couple of games collectively. Sumit, Nitesh Kumar and Ashu have been the pillar of UP Yoddhas' defence but have not lived up to the expectations. This will a good chance for the trio to get back to form and gain confidence against a weak Telugu raiding department.

Did you know

Monu Goyat is 21 points short of reaching the 600 raid points mark. Overall he has scored 41 tackle points accounting for 611 points overall (raiding+defence).

Broadcast

Time - 08:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar