U.P. Yoddha vs Jaipur Pink Panthers, Pro Kabaddi (PKL), Today Match Prediction

upy vs jpp Match Prediction & Analysis

UP Yoddha's battle out against the Jaipur Pink Panthers in the eliminator 1 of Pro Kabaddi Season 11 on Thursday, 26th December 2024. The match at Badminton Hall in Balewadi Sports Complex, Pune.

UP Yoddhas finished their final league game of the season with a commanding 30-44, 14 point win over the Bengaluru Bulls. On the other hand Jaipur Pink Panthers suffered a 33-31, two point loss against Dabang Delhi KC to close out the league stages. The Yoddhas finishes at third place with 79 points in 22 matches (13 wins, 6 losses & 3 ties), while the Pink Panthers at 6th place with 70 points in 22 matches (12 wins, 8 losses & 2 ties). 

Head to Head Record -  Jaipur Pink Panthers holds a slight advantage with 7 wins, while UP Yoddhas won 6 matches out of the 13 games played. Jaipur Pink Panthers in three of the last five matches and the average total match score in these games is 72.4. The last these two teams met earlier in the season, UP Yoddhas won the match 33-29 and the record of both the teams these season is 1-1. 

U.P. Yoddha vs Jaipur Pink Panthers Over/Under Predictions

TEAMS PREVIEW

U.P. Yoddha Preview

The UP Yoddhas, who had a commendable phase towards the backend of the Pune leg where they went on a nine-match unbeaten run, winning seven and the other two matches ending in a tie, have built on a very good momentum for their game against the Jaipur Pink Panthers for the Eliminator 1 clash.

The strengths of the Yoddhas have been their raiding duo of Gagan Gowda and Bhavani Rajput who really picked up steam from the mid-way stage of the tournament when Surender Gill got injured. But they now have a full-strength squad where all their four raiders are fully fit for this clash.

Bhavani Rajput (135 raid points) and Gagan Gowda (130 raid points), the last time they met the Pink Panthers, combinedly scored 14 raid points, troubling their defense with their height, reach, and agility. These raiders could potentially start in the first 7, where they will look to target the weak link in their opponents' defense, mainly the cover defenders and the right side of the defense. Bharat Hooda could be used more in raiding for this game as the right corner isn't at his best for Jaipur, which can be a huge scoring option.

So far this season the Yoddhas have scored 35.82 points and conceded 31.40 points per game. Their raiding unit is averaging 20.45 raid points per game, while defense has managed to tackle the opponent raiders successfully 10.91 times per game. Bhavani Rajput with 135 raid points and  Sumit with 65 tackle points are the top performers for the Yoddhas. 

UP Yoddhas Probable Starting 7 - Bharat Hooda, Bhavani Rajput, Gagan Gowda, Ashu Singh, Mahender Singh, Hitesh Kumar, Sumit Sangwan. 

U.P. Yoddha Over/Under Predictions

Jaipur Pink Panthers Preview

The two-time PKL champions, Jaipur Pink Panthers, just managed to sneak into the playoffs courtesy of the Telugu Titans and Puneri Paltan's poor run of form towards the backend of the season and a few results going their way as the Panthers ended their season with just one loss in their last five games.

It has been a season of two halves for the Panthers where the results were dependent solely on Arjun Deshwal's performance, but that narrative has changed slightly off late in the later stages of the league games where Neeraj Narwal and Abhijeet Malik have shouldered the responsibility in raiding, providing support to their defense when Arjun has an off-night. 

While their defense has started to excel by leaps and bounds, there still remains a persistent problem in the right corner position where they have chopped and changed. Surjeet Singh has also become a misery or master stroker for them. When he gets going, he takes out the best of defenders, and when it doesn't pay off, he starts leaking points.

Against the Yoddhas, the Panthers' strategy should be to slow down the pace of the game, try and take an early slender lead, and play to their defensive strengths where they are the most lethal, and that has been their success mantra throughout the season, and the same might be implemented in this game as well.

This season, the Pink Panthers have averaged 33.59 points per game while conceding 31.09. Their raiding unit averages 18.14 raid points per game (ranked 10th), and their defense averages 10.95 tackle points per game (ranked 6th). Arjun Deshwal and Ankush Rathee have been their top performers, with 225 raid points and 67 tackle points, respectively.

Jaipur Pink Panthers Probable Starting 7 - Arjun Deshwal, Neeraj Narwal, Sombir Mehra, Surjeet Singh, Reeza Mirbagheri, Ronak Singh, Ankush Rathee