A complete performance by raiders and defenders helped Tamil Thalaivas beat U.P Yoddha 39-33 in Match 33 of Pro Kabaddi League Season 8. 

Manjeet (7 points) and substitute Ajinkya Pawar (6 points) were impressive among the raiders for Thalaivas while defenders Sagar (5 points) and Surjeet Singh (3 points) backed them up efficiently. Surender Gill scored 14 points for U.P. Yoddha but couldn’t find much support from his teammates.

Thalaivas dominated in the first half, courtesy of their raiders Manjeet, K. Prapanjan, and Bhavani Rajput, who kept finding points easily. Yoddha’s much-famed corner duo of Nitesh Kumar and Sumit struggled against the lanky Tamil raiders. 

At the other end, Pardeep Narwal had yet another sub-par performance, moving gingerly and getting easily trapped by the defenders. Thalaivas got their first all-out in the 11th minute to open a six-point gap, eventually ending the first half with a 21-10 in their favour.

Kabaddi is a game of fine margins and the momentum surprisingly shifted to Yoddha right at the beginning of the second half. Two successive Super Tackles from the combination of Ashu Singh and Shubham Kumar suddenly reduced Thalaivas’ lead. 

Surender Gill donned the role of the lead raider while Pardeep struggled to help Yoddha clinch an important ALL OUT in the 8th minute of the half. He secured his Super 10 two minutes later to reduce Thalaivas’ lead to just two points.

Ajinkya Pawar was introduced for Thalaivas and he immediately directed pressure back on Yoddhas. Sagar clinched his High 5 in defence as Thalaivas secured their second all-out with four minutes remaining, opening an eight-point lead in the closing stages.

Pardeep Narwal produced a three-point Super Raid in the final minute to reduce the margin to five, ensuring raid Yoddha got at least one point from the match.