UP Yoddhas, on Thursday (September 25), beat Bengaluru Bulls in a thrilling contest to register a much-needed victory in the ongoing Pro Kabaddi League 2025 (PKL 2025). The thrilling match was eventually decided by a tie-breaker at the SMS Indoor Stadium in Jaipur.
It was a crucial win for UP Yoddhas as they look to revive their campaign. After winning their first two games, they had suffered four losses in a row before beating Tamil Thalaivas to return to winning ways.
UP Yoddhas made the most of the winning momentum as they won their fourth match of the season. On the other hand, Bengaluru Bulls suffered their fifth defeat of the season and will look to bounce back quickly.
PKL 2025: UP Yoddhas prevail in thriller
UP Yoddhas got off the mark thanks to Gagan Gowda scoring in the opening raid. Bengaluru Bulls opened their scoring through Alireza Mirzaian’s successful raid. The Bulls soon seized the early momentum and opened up a three-point advantage to lead 8-5. By the time the first time out was called, the Bulls had an 11-7 lead.
The Bulls started the second quarter on the front foot as well. With Mirzaian delivering another successful tackle, the Bengaluru-based franchise inflicted an all out on UP Yoddhas to extend their lead to 15-7. Yoddhas, however, did not buckle under relentless pressure and scored some quick points to reduce the deficit to 10-15.
With Shivam Chaudhary coming up with a successful raid, the gap was further narrowed to 12-15. Just when it looked like the momentum was on the Yoddhas’ side, the Bulls’ defenders stepped up to pull off a brilliant Super Tackle in the final moments of the first half to give their side an 18-12 lead.
Even before the first half ended, the Yoddhas clawed their way back into the game by inflicting an all out on the Bulls. The brilliant effort reduced the gap to 17-20. They added two more points through Bhavani Rajput’s raid and trailed by a solitary point at halftime.
After the restart, the Yoddhas did not take long to level the scores at 20-20. Both teams traded blow for blow as the scores were locked at 24-24 with just around 10 minutes left in the match. Bhavani came up with a brilliant raid to hand his side 27-24 lead going into the second-half time-out.
The Yoddhas then inflicted another all out on the Bulls to extend their advantage to 31-25. The Bulls did well to reduce the deficit to 30-32 before a fine tackle from Sumit put the Yoddhas in the driver’s seat once again. With less than a minute left, the Yoddhas extended their advantage to four points. Bhavani kept scoring for the Yoddhas and completed his Super 10.
However, just when it looked like the game was settled in the Yoddhas’ favour, Alireza Mirzaian, who also completed a Super 10, turned things around in a spectacular fashion. He delivered a brilliant super raid in the dying moments of the match to level the scores at 36-36. In the tie-breaker, the Yoddhas clinched a 6-5 win.
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