Bengaluru Bulls decimated the Jaipur Pink Panthers 38-31 in the 37th match of the Pro Kabaddi League at the Sheraton Grand Convention Centre in Bengaluru. Jaipur Pink Panthers succumbed to their 4th defeat of the PKL 8 and are lying in the bottom half of the points table.
Surprisingly, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat was tackled successfully by the Jaipur Pink Panthers in his first two raids. The Bengaluru Bulls skipper was on the bench twice inside the first two minutes. After he was revived in the 4th minute, he came into his own with 5 raid points by the end of the 11th minute of the match.
For all the talk around Jaipur’s poor defense in the buildup to the match, the first three points for Jaipur were scored by their defense. Bengaluru Bulls caught up and equalized at 3-3 as they did not allow the Pink Panthers to run away with the early lead. The Bulls turned their fortunes as the Jaipur-based franchise made typical mistakes and Bulls inflicted an all-out to stretch the lead to 14-7.
Pawan Kumar Sehrawat scored his 10th raid point with 7 minutes to go for the half-time whistle. The raider was simply invincible as the defenders had no answers to his moves on the mat.
Arjun Deshwal, who had completed a super 10 in each of his last five matches, scored a couple of points in his third raid but was quiet on the mat against the Bulls in the first 10 minutes of the encounter. Just like Pawan Kumar, he found his form in the next few minutes. However, Deshwal lacked support from his teammates as the PKL 6 champions held a lead of 20-10.
The inaugural champions picked up 4 consecutive points and also tackled Pawan Kumar Sehrawat to reduce the lead to 20-14 at half-time. The Bulls had a whopping raid strike rate of 68.42%.
Deepak Niwas Hooda’s poor form in the tournament continued
Deepak Niwas Hooda was super tackled as the Bengaluru Bulls were strategically patient in the do-or-die and grabbed the first points post the first half. In spite of the absence of Pawan Kumar in the second half’s first few minutes, Bengaluru stretched the lead. Jaipur trailed by 10 points with 14 minutes to play on the clock.
Pawan Kumars’ raids felt like a stroll in the park as Jaipur seemed to have no plan to stop the high-flying raider. He scored 17 out of the 21 raid points that the Bulls scored in this match. The skipper was off the mat for more than 14 minutes and still managed to be influential in the match. In spite of the presence of Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Jaipur had managed only 3 tackle points in the second half. The defensive unit was charged up as Saurabh Nandal, Amit Sheoran and G.B. More were authoritative with their tackles.
Bengaluru Bulls inflicted their second all-out on the Pink Panthers and had a mammoth lead of 15 points with the final quarter of the match remaining. Jaipur needed a miracle to win the match after the score was 32-17.
In the last few minutes, the Bengaluru Bulls comfortably won the match even as the Jaipur Pink Panthers inflicted an all-out and reduced the deficit.
The Bengaluru Bulls will face the Pardeep Narwal-led U.P. Yoddha on Sunday while the Jaipur Pink Panthers take the mat on Friday to lock horns with the Puneri Paltan.