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In the first of the double-header on the last day of the Chennai leg, the U.P.Yoddhas take on the Patna Pirates at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium.
After a rest of three days, the Patna Pirates are itching to take on to the mat, and get their first win of the tournament.
Led by the top raider of last season, Pardeep Narwal, the Pirates' failed to impress their fans and displayed poor strategy and coordination in their loss to the Thalaivas.
Except for Pardeep and Manjeet, the rest of the team delivered a sub-par performance, which is not expected of the reigning champions.
The Pirates' defense needs to get its act together and Surender Singh should be included in the playing 7 to bolster the Pirates' raiding prowess.
U.P.Yoddha, on the other hand, is coming off a fine win over the Tamil Thalaivas and would look to take their performance to the next level against the Pirates.
All their players took away points from their first encounter which is a good sign, but their captain, Rishank Devadiga looked a little out of sorts while performing his raiding duties.
Shrikant Jadhav too, while impressive in patches, could not muster the performance that he was known for in the last season.
The veteran Jeeva Kumar needs to put his experience to use by taking on the defensive leadership and coordinate with his teammates into effective defensive formations.
The management of the Yoddhas shouldn't make any drastic changes to the lineup and give the team time to settle and get their dynamics right.
Probable playing 7:
U.P.Yoddha: Rishank Devadiga (c), Prashant Kumar Rai, Shrikant Jadhav, Jeeva Kumar, Nitesh Kumar, Sagar Krishna, and Narender
Patna Pirates: Pardeep Narwal (c), Manjeet, Deepak Narwal/Surender Singh, Vijay, Jaideep, Vijay Kumar, and Kuldeep Singh
When and where to watch:
20.00 IST on the Star Sports network and on the digital streaming platform, Hotstar
