UP Yoddha
UP Yoddha is a franchise team that represents Uttar Pradesh in the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL). This stellar team is well known for its consistency throughout multiple seasons, having always gone past through the Eliminators.
Currently, the team plays all their home matches in the Babu Banarasi Stadium, Lucknow. UP Yoddha made history in the Pro Kabaddi League by roping in Pardeep Narwal, a star raider from Patna Pirates with a transfer fee of 1.65 crores in Season 8.
| FULL NAME | UP Yoddha |
| NICK NAME | UP Yoddha |
| FOUNDED | 2017 |
| GROUND | Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium, Lucknow |
| TEAM OWNER(S) | GMR League Games Private Limited |
| Captain | Nitesh Kumar |
| Coach | Jasveer Singh |
Table of Content
UP Yoddha Kabaddi Team History
The team has been reaching the playoff stages of the tournament ever since the team was formed and inducted into the Pro Kabaddi League. Although the PKL started in the year 2014, UP Yoddha came into the limelight when the tournament was expanded from 8 teams to 12 teams in the 5th season in 2017. Even though the UP Yoddha team has a 100% record of reaching the playoff stages, so far the team has been unsuccessful in claiming its maiden title.
UP Yoddha Owners
GMR Group, one of India’s largest conglomerate business houses in Delhi, is the owner of the UP Yoddha team. They are known for pioneering in the field of infrastructure development.
UP Yoddha PKL 2022 Match Schedule
UP Yoddha will hope to keep their past miseries behind as the team looks to win its maiden PKL title this year. Here is a tabular view of the UP Yoddha matches for the 9th edition of the Pro kabaddi League 2022.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 12 | 20.30 IST | Dabang Delhi | Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium |
| October 16 | 20.30 IST | Bengaluru Bulls | Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium |
| October 19 | 19.30 IST | Gujarat Giants | Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium |
| October 23 | 20.30 IST | Tamil Thalaivas | Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium |
| October 28 | 21.30 IST | Patna Pirates | Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex |
| October 31 | 20.30 IST | Hyderabad Titans | Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex |
| November 4 | 21.30 IST | Puneri Paltan | Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex |
| November 5 | 21.30 IST | Haryana Steelers | Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex |
| November 8 | 19.30 IST | Bengal Warriors | Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex |
UP Yoddha Squad
UP Yoddha will be in action again during the 9th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. This year, the kabaddi team is based around an attacking lineup. The team has some experienced players in the squad as well such as Nitin Tomar and Pardeep Narwal.
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Abozar Mohajer Mighani | Defender |
| Ashu Singh | Defender |
| Babu Murugasan | Defender |
| Jaideep | Defender |
| Nitesh Kumar | Defender |
| Shubham Kumar | Defender |
| Sumit | Defender |
| Nitin Tomar | Raider |
| Pardeep Narwal | Raider |
| Aman | Raider |
| Anil Kumar | Raider |
| Durgesh Kumar | Raider |
| Gulveer Singh | Raider |
| James Namaba Kamweti | Raider |
| Rathan K | Raider |
| Mahipal | Raider |
| Rohit Tomar | Raider |
| Surender Gill | Raider |
| Nitin Panwar | All-Rounder |
| Nehal Desai | All-Rounder |
| Gurdeep | All-Rounder |
UP Yoddha Stats
Season 5: 2017 PKL Edition
In its first season, UP Yoddha were up against quality oppositions such as the Bengal warriors, Patna Pirates, and Bengaluru Bulls. Despite this, the debuting team made it to the play-off stages of the tournament.
They ended the group stages in the third position with 8 wins, 4 draws, and 10 defeats. However, UP Yoddha lost to Puneri Paltan, another debutant of the season in a close-fought match.
Season 6- 2018 PKL Edition
In the following season, most of UP Yoddha's matches were closely contested. The team again managed to gather 57 points with the same number of matches being won, lost, and drawn seeing them through to the knockouts. It won two consecutive matches but could not reach the final, failing in the preliminary final round to Gujarat Fortune Giants.
Season 7- 2019 PKL Edition
In the 2019 season, the team again displayed dominance despite being one of the new teams in the tournament. It finished the group stages in the third position behind Dabang Delhi and Bengal Warriors. In a total of 22 group stage matches, the UP Yoddha Kabaddi team collected a total of 74 points, delivering a stellar performance, winning 13 matches, drawing another 2, and losing 7.
But again, the team faltered to reach the finals, losing the first-round elimination matches against Bengaluru Bulls. In what was again a closely contested match, UP Yoddha ended up being on the losing side going down with a narrow margin of 45-48.
Season 8- 2020 PKL Edition
Moving onto their 4 the season, UP Yoddha displayed a commendable performance in the group stages yet again. The team finished as the second runners-up in the group stages with a total of 68 points which included 10 wins and 3 draws.
This time around they breezed past Puneri Paltan in the eliminators but failed to show the usual charisma against Patna Pirates in the semi-finals.
Best UP Yoddha Players in Pro Kabaddi League
Pardeep Narwal (Best Raider)
The team has the best raider in Pro Kabaddi League’s history, none other than Pardeep Narwal. He arguably has a string of records to his name and is already a winner of the Pro Kabaddi league 3 times, twice in 2016 and consecutively in 2017.
Sumit (Best Defender)
Sumit is being tipped by many pundits to be the top defender alongside skipper Nitesh Kumar. He may be young but his defense is clinical and effective. The player has a dominating and aggressive style of defending and wouldn’t let raiders from taking bonus points that easily. This year, Summit will be one of the key members of the UP Yoddha team for their maiden title pursuit.
UP Yoddha Records
UP Yoddha have never missed out on reaching the playoffs since the team was inducted in the PKL 2017 season. Pardeep Narwal has the highest number of raid points to his name. Previously playing for Patna Pirates, the star raider has a total of 1028 points so far.
Nitesh Kumar is the best defender of UP Yoddha with a total of 262 tackle points to his name.
UP Yoddha: FAQs
Well, there is not one but many star players to look out for in the UP Yoddha Kabaddi team. To name a few are Pardeep Narwal, Nitin Tomar, Nitesh Kumar, Nitin Panwar, and Rohit Kumar among others.
The 2022 edition of the PKL will be the fifth season for UP Yoddha, one of the most consistent teams in the PKL in terms of reaching the playoff stages of the tournament.
Unfortunately, despite this, the team has been unsuccessful in winning the title.
If you look at the previous season’s performances of UP Yoddha matches surely, the stats are in favor of the team yet again. When it comes to qualifying for the knockout stages, UP Yoddha has a cent percent record. So, it would take some courage to bet against this team not reaching the playoffs.
UP Yoddha represents the state of Uttar Pradesh in the Pro Kabaddi League.
Nitesh Kumar is an experienced defender of the team who shall also lead the UP Yoddha for the 9th edition of the PKL.
The UP Yoddha team has a few star players such as Pardeep Narwal and Nitin Tomar in its squad with massive records to their name in the Pro Kabaddi League.
The team has some young agile raiders and defenders. But it remains to be seen if the team can perform, especially in the playoff stages for tournaments where they lack consistency. Surely, the top players of the squad will have to deliver in the knockouts.