UP Yoddha will face Patna Pirates in their second match of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) 8 at Sheraton Grand Whitefield in Bengaluru on Saturday.

UP Yoddha and Patna Pirates come into this game with contrasting fortunes. While UP Yoddha faced a 33-38 loss against Bengal Warriors, Patna Pirates won 42-39 against Haryana Steelers in their respective previous encounters.

The teams will be facing each other for the first time since a raider exchange has happened, with Pardeep Narwal and Monu Goyat now playing against their former teams.

Players to watch out for - UP Yoddha

Pardeep Narwal had a decent first match for UP Yoddha, scoring eight raid points. Surender Gill followed with five points.

The UP Yoddha corner combination of captain Nitesh Kumar and Sumit shared six points between them.

Players to watch out for - Patna Pirates

Monu Goyat shone in his first game for the Patna Pirates in PKL 8, scoring 15 points - 14 raid points and a tackle point - against Haryana Steelers.

Patna Pirates’ captain Prashanth Kumar and raider Sachin both scored seven points each, sitting in second place.

Recent history

In PKL 7, UP Yoddha and Patna Pirates met twice and won a game each. In their first encounter in the season, Patna Pirates rode on Pardeep’s Super 10, who scored 12 points, to win the match 41-20. Sumit had top-scored for UP Yoddha with five points.

In their second and most recent encounter, UP Yoddha emerged winners, with a Super 10 from Shrikant Jadhav and a High-5, including a super tackle, from Nitesh. Pardeep was yet again Patna Pirates’ top scorer with 14 points. UP Yoddha won the match 41-29.

Head-to-head record

UP Yoddha and Patna Pirates have been involved in eight encounters so far. Patna Pirates exercise a slight lead of 1 extra victory than UP Yoddha, keeping the head-to-head numbers 4-3. One more match resulted in a draw.

UP Yoddha squad

Nitesh Kumar, Pardeep Narwal, Shrikant Jadhav, Aman Hooda, Ankit, Gulveer Singh, James Kamweti, Mohammad Taghi, Rohit Tomar, Sahil, Surender Gill, Ashu Singh, Aashish Nagar, Bintu Narwal, Shubham Kumar, Gaurav Kumar, Sumit, Gurdeep, Nitin Panwar

Patna Pirates squad

Prashanth Kumar, Monu Goyat, Sachin, Monu, Guman Singh, Selvamani K, Mohit, Rajveersingh Chavan, Rohit, Sandeep, Neeraj Kumar, Shubham Shinde, Sunil, Sajin C, Sourav Gulia, Manish, Sahil Mann, Mohammadreza Chiyaneh, Daniel Odhiambo