Pune: It was a game of two halves in Match 91 of PKL Season 11 in the Badminton Hall at the Balewadi Sports Complex here as Telugu Titans and UP Yoddhas played out a nail-biter.
UP Yoddhas, who trailed at half-time, roared back in the second half, winning the game by a scoreline of 36-33 on Wednesday night.
For UP Yoddhas, it was Gagan Gowda who bagged 15 points while Bhavani Rajput added 6 more to the cause.
Vijay Malik and Ashish Narwal opened the scoring for Telugu Titans, which gave them an early lead, despite a slow start to the contest.
In the early exchanges, Telugu Titans looked solid in defence, while the raiders were chipping in with quick and timely raids.
The early domination paid off as Telugu Titans landed an All-Out on UP Yoddhas in the 8th minute of the contest. That gave them a 6-point lead and put them in the driver’s seat midway through the first half.
But after that, the likes of Hitesh and Bhavani Rajput were hoping to lead the fight back for UP Yoddhas, however, Vijay Malik, Ashish Narwal and Sagar had other plans.
As the first half wore on, UP Yoddhas found it hard to put one past Telugu Titans, who were building on their advantage. At the break, Telugu Titans led 17-10.
UP Yoddhas came out of the blocks quicker than their opponents in the second half as Gagan Gowda made an impact with a flurry of quick raids. They picked up the first five points of the half to reduce the deficit to two points.
In the sixth minute of the half, UP Yoddhas picked up an All-Out on Telugu Titans and stormed into the lead. The momentum was with UP Yoddhas and the attacking approach made it clear that they were keen to build on the lead.
At the half-hour mark, UP Yoddhas had their noses out in front with a 3-point lead. At this point, Telugu Titans had scored 2 points in the first 10 minutes of the half, while UP Yoddhas had picked up 12 of their own to turn the game on its head.
Soon after, Gagan Gowda notched up his Super 10 and scored a three-point raid with seven minutes to go. Telugu Titans were staring down the barrel of a defeat before Manjeet stepped up with a six-point raid to bring his team right back into the contest.
It was also the highest points scored on a single raid this season.
In the final couple of minutes, Telugu Titans landed an All-Out on UP Yoddhas to take a slender lead in what was turning out to be a very exciting game.
UP Yoddhas though found a way back yet again with Vijay Malik going out of bounds on the mat. Eventually, UP Yoddhas picked up a couple of more points in the final seconds of the game to register a close win.
