The Star Sports Pro Kabaddi witnessed its second tie of the season when Jaipur Pink Panthers denied Bengaluru Bulls a possible win with a last minute tackle that levelled the scores. Bulls’ coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat was visibly upset by his team’s efforts as the team settled for a tie after being in a position of strength. The visiting side was leading by 11 points after 27 minutes but committed hara-kiri towards the end to concede crucial points that saw the Panthers tie the match.
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Speaking to the Press in the post match conference, Sehrawat said, ”In the final time-out in the 37th min., I asked the players to utilise their 30 raid seconds to the fullest but unfortunately the result was not in our favour. We have a long way to go in the tournament and all the teams are equally good.” Sehrawat downplayed the chaos that saw his team squander away an 11 point lead. He asserted, “This is what the game of Kabaddi is all about. There are uncertainties which are not in our control. Also, youngster Ashish Kumar fumbled at the end and that’s where we lost.”
The coach took a time out in the 37th minute and made his intentions clear to his men. But the coach admitted that things didn’t work according to the plans. “At that moment, we were leading by 4 points and around 6 raids (3 raids from each team) were left. The players just had to raid for the maximum of their 30 seconds. But the things didn’t go as per our plans.” Sehrawat told the media.
The star raider of Bengaluru Bulls Rohit Kumar also seconded the coach and admitted that the team failed to execute the plans properly leading to the tie. “We were well aware of the game plan but the things happened exceptionally quickly at the end. We were unable to handle the agile moves of Jaipur Pink Panthers, specially Jasvir Singh,” Rohit Kumar said.
The Panthers’ skipper, who was one of the architects of the dramatic comeback mounted by the Abhishek Bachchan owned team, praised the defence of his team that fetched them the last point that proved crucial in the end. “We are performing very well and principally the standard of defence in crucial time of the game has altogether reached a different level.“
The captain added, “The team followed the instructions and strategy as framed by the coach. There was a possibility that we would have won the game. In the beginning, our team was well behind the opposition, but we tried our level best and managed to convert it into a draw in the crucial last minute of the game. It is a matter of chance as we missed by a single point.”
Jaipur Pink Panthers happy with attitude
Randhir Singh Sehrawat’s opposite number Balwan Singh lauded his team’s never say die attitude. He insisted, “It is a sport and one should not lose hope and fight with full vigour till the battle is over. When India was against Iran in Asian games and was lagging behind by a healthy margin still I stood against the score and was certain that a good game from there can make us win and so happened.“
When pointed his team’s tendency to start slowly and whether it had got anything to do with the warm ups, Balwan Singh rubbished it by saying, “Sometimes the plans go wrong. So we have to revise our strategy to suit the circumstances. Otherwise, it is a natural thing. Ups and downs are a part of game. It has nothing to do with the warm up of players.”
The team will meet Bengal Warriors in the 12th match of the league on Friday night and would hope to score a big win to book a ticket to the top of the table.
