PKL 9: Haryana Steelers, UP Yoddhas will clash to get back on winning run

Both teams are out of the top 6 in the standings.

Haryana Steelers are winless in the last three encounters and have slipped to the 11th spot in the points table of PKL 9. In the previous encounter against Bengaluru Bulls, Haryana was trailing since the start of the first half but caught up pace in the second half which wasn't enough against a strong strong side. Meetu did not start in the playing 7 but Manpreet was forced to substitute him with the lack of depth in raiding.

UP Yoddhas are coming into this match with back-to-back ties in the previous encounters. Surender Gill did not play the last match against Bengal Warriors but Rohit Tomar came as a surprise and scored 16 raid points surpassing Pardeep Narwal’s score who scored 11 raid points. Whichever team wins this match will move to the top 6.

Team News

Haryana Steelers Squad

Raiders: Prapanjan, Rakesh Narwal, Manjeet, Vinay, Mohammad Mahalli, Lovepreet Singh, Sushil, Meetu, Manish Gulia.

Defenders: Joginder Narwal, Jaideep, Mohit, Ankit, Monu, Naveen, Harsh, Sunny, Amirhossein Bastami.

All-Rounder: Nitin Rawal

UP Yoddha 

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, Sandeep Narwal

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

Head to Head

UP Yoddhas and Haryana Steelers have faced each other seven times in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) out of which, Haryana have won three matches and UP Yoddhas has come out victorious on two occasions with two matches ending in a tie.

Player to watch

Rohit Tomar in the 16 points he scored against Bengal Warriors, eight points came from the bonus itself and the other eight through touchpoints. The youngster looks fast and brisk while raiding and has the skill to escape from the defenders. He along with Pardeep Narwal will form a great combo from the left side with Surinder taking over the right side and keeping the defenders on their toes.

Meetu and Manjeet Dahiya are the two bright spots in raiding and are not getting enough support from Prapanjan and Vinay. Both the primary raiders need to take the responsibilities on their own and score points. Meetu couldn't start the previous match but should be fit going into this match and he is the raider to feature in the top 10 in the raiders chart.

Key to Success

UP Yoddhas were leading by 13 points in the first half against Bengal Warriors but lost the plot thereafter. The defence worked well in tandem for the initial part of the game but collapsed once again in pressure situations. Meetu and Manjeet are in good form and will look to exploit the defence which UP should be up against. 

Haryana Steelers have had a poor defensive record in the last couple of matches. The right corner defender Bastami put in four unsuccessful tackles and was substituted due to the inability to score a single point. The cover combo of Mohit and Jaideep too failed to score points and score a point each. The three defenders will be up against a strong raiding unit that can click at any time. The cover combo had a good start to the season and shall look to put the same performance against UP Yoddhas.

Did you know

The last two encounters between Haryana Steelers and UP Yoddhas ended in a tie with a similar score (36-36). The opening match of season 8 was won by Haryana with a scoreline of (36-35). 

Broadcast

Time - 07:30 PM

Streaming - Star Sports / Disney + Hotstar