Raider Vikash Kandola starred yet again as Haryana Steelers beat UP Yoddha 36-33 in the Pro Kabaddi League in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
With the win, Steelers moved into the top six in the points table.
In the second match of the day, Gujarat Fortunegiants poor home form continued as they lost their third match in a row. Bengal Warriors edged out the hosts 28-26 in a close encounter.
Yoddha started strongly thanks to a two-point raid by Monu Goyat, which was followed up with a successful Nitesh Kumar tackle. Haryana Steelers got on the scoreboard moments later courtesy of a tackle by Ravi Kumar.
Kandola made his presence felt and combined well with Prashanth Kumar Rai as Haryana Steelers began scoring raid points to tie the contest at 5-5.
Steelers then moved into the lead with Kandola breaking through UP Yoddha’s defence. They enforced the first all-out of the game on Yoddha in the 13th minute to take a 7-11 lead and looked to build on their advantage before half time.
However, successful raids by Shrikant Jadhav and a successful tackle by Nitesh ensured that didn’t happen, as Haryana Steelers took just a 16-12 lead into the break.
The second half saw Yoddha up their game post the break to close in on the Steelers but the in-form side held their own as they emerged with an impressive win.
Kandola was the star performer for Haryana Steelers with a Super 10 performance.
Scores:
Match 40 – U.P. Yoddha vs Haryana Steelers
Scoreline: 33 – 36
Match 41– Gujarat Fortunegiants vs Bengal Warriors
Scoreline: 26 – 28