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In what was touted a battle of raiders with Rahul Chaudhari leading the Titans' attack against the U.P. Yoddhas raiding trio, the defence of the Titans' spoiled the Yoddhas party to win the game 34-29.
The Telugu Titans (17 points) and UP Yoddha (16 points) were quite close in accumulating the raid points. While Rahul Chaudhari (9 raid points) and Nilesh Salunkhe (5 points) led the Titans' attack, it was Prashant Kumar Rai and the Yoddhas' captain, Rishank Devadiga who each managed 7 points on their raids.
Shrikant Jadhav, the remaining member of the Yoddhas' attacking trio, failed to get going in the match scoring just 2 touch points from his 11 attempted raids.
It was the splendid defence of the Titans', and a lack of an able defence on the Yoddhas' part which proved to be decisive in determining the fortune of the teams.
The corner duo of Abozar Mighani (6 points) and captain, Vishal Bhardwaj (4 points) came together in a fine fashion to thwart the Yoddhas' attack. They were well supported by Anil Kumar and surprisingly even by their star raider Rahul Chaudhari who got 2 tackle points.
The Yoddhas' defence, on the other hand, continued to show their lack of coordination and strategy as they failed to defend as a unit for the second match in a row.
While the young Nitesh Kumar continued with his fine form to score 3 tackle points, Sagar Krishna improved his game to score 4 tackle points of his total 5 attempted tackles.
The cover defenders again proved to be a cause of concern, as in the absence of Jeeva Kumar, they failed to score even a single point.
The Yoddhas can't solely depend on their raiders to win them matches, as it rightly said: "While Raiders can win you matches, the defence can win you tournaments", and they need to realize it before it's too late for them.
The Yoddhas will next take on the Patna Pirates tomorrow evening, while the Titans will play against the Bengal Warriors on Tuesday the 16th.
