An all-round effort from Gujarat Giants helped them beat U.P. Yoddha 38-31 in Pro Kabaddi Season 8 at the Sheraton Grand, Whitefield in Bengaluru on Sunday. The win took Gujarat Giants into the top six of PKL standings and strengthened their hopes of qualifying for the playoffs.

Ajay Kumar scored six raid points while Girish Ernak scored a high 5 for Gujarat Giants.

For U.P. Yoddha, Pardeep Narwal scored 12 raid points while Ashu Singh bagged a high 5.

Playing in the starting seven, defender Hadi Oshtorak managed to initiate two key tackles on Pardeep Narwal and Surender Gill early in the match to bring U.P. Yoddha on the brink of an all-out. Thereafter, substitute Pardeep Kumar scored a four-point raid to sweep the entire U.P. Yoddha defence and go 11-4 up in the match.

Gujarat Giants, led by the raiding duo of Pardeep Kumar and Rakesh Sungroya, continued to pile more misery on U.P. Yoddha as they soon inflicted the second all-out to gain a 15-point lead. Some late resistance from U.P. Yoddha saw the first half end 24-12 in favour of the Gujarat Giants.

U.P. Yoddha started the second half aggressively with Pardeep Narwal scoring points off successive raids. His four-point raid early in the second half helped U.P. Yoddha inflict the first all-out on Gujarat Giants and bring the deficit down to six points. However, a well rounded Gujarat Giants’ defence managed to keep the U.P. Yoddha raiders at bay as they kept the scoreboard ticking. In the end, Gujarat Giants clinched the match comfortably with a 38-31 victory.

The win helped the Gujarat Giants climb to the sixth spot in the PKL standings with 54 points. Meanwhile, U.P. Yoddha continued to remain at the fifth position with 58 points. The top six teams at the end of the league phase will qualify for the PKL playoffs.

Gujarat Giants will be up against Puneri Paltan next on Monday.