Rishank Devadiga: Pro Kabaddi’s bright star

From being a supportive raider to becoming a prime raider and now captain of the team, UP Yoddha’s star raider Rishank Devadiga has come a long way. Rishank Devadiga was born and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Rishank is one of the best players that Pro Kabaddi League has ever produced. Rishank is the 5th most expensive player of PKL history. For PKL season 6, he was retained by UP Yoddha with a huge amount of Rs. 1.11 Cr through FBM.

Rishank started playing Kabaddi from his school days. He was selected by U Mumba in season 1, where he was a supportive raider to his captain Anup Kumar and Shabeer Bappu. He was U Mumba’s go-to-man in do-or-die raids. He scored 64 raid points from 16 matches. Rishank played vital role in U Mumba’s triumph in season 2 of PKL in which he got 44 raid points from 13 matches.

Season 3 proved to be career changing for Rishank Devadiga. Rishank did a century of raid points and became the second highest raid point scorer. He was also awarded the ‘Best Raider of the Season’ Award. He clinched 106 raid points from 16 matches. Rishank was successful in scoring 70 raid points from 14 matches played for U Mumba. His career is highlighted by leading the Do-Or-Die raid points tally for U Mumba in Seasons 2, 3 and 4.

In season 5 Rishnak was brought by UP Yoddha where he was very impressive and got 165 raid points in 21 matches. In that season he scored 28 raid points against Jaipur Pink Panthers which was the most by any raider in single game. Later that record for most points scored by a raider was first broken by Rohit Kumar with 32 raid points against UP Yoddha Pardeep Narwal with 34 raid points against Haryana Steelers.

Apart from playing for UP Yoddha in PKL, he plays from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) in Industrial Championships. Rishank led Maharashtra in the 2017-18 Senior National Kabaddi Championship to win the title after 11 years. He represented India for the first time in his career at Kabaddi Masters Tournament, Dubai 2018.

In second consecutive season, Rishank Devadiga will be seen playing for UP Yoddha. Rishank will now be in the captain’s shoes and the responsibility is expected to bring the best out of him. UP Yoddha will be expecting a champion performance from Rishank once again. They will start their campaign from 8th October 2018 against Tamil Thalaivas.

Rishank Devadiga’s Pro Kabaddi League Performance: 

Matches Played – 80

Raid Points – 449 Points

Super 10’s – 9

Super Raids – 20