Jaipur Pink Panthers beat Telugu Titans 28-24 in a nail-biter to register their first win of PKL Season 4 in Jaipur on Wednesday. The moment of the match came when Rajesh Narwal scored 2 points in a do-or-die raid to clinch the victory for his side. He was also the best raider in the match. The marathon man of the match was Ran Singh of Jaipur, and he was the best defender as well.
In the post-conference, Telugu Titans’ Captain and their star raider Rahul Chaudhari took the defeat quite sportingly as he said that win and loss are part and parcel of the game, and his team battled really well for the win. When asked about the umpire’s decision, he said, “Umpires are also human beings. Review was not available for us because of one unsuccessful one earlier; otherwise things could have been different.”
He was talking about not being able to capitalize on their review after the Titans had used it in the 15th minute after Jasvir Singh made an unsuccessful attempt to raid. 1 point was given to both teams subsequently. “In Jaipur’s third raid, we lost 2 of our top defenders that shifted the momentum”, he said when talking about the most crucial moment of the match.
The winning captain Jasvir Singh of the Panthers said, “Our team was successful in executing the plan formulated by our coach. The team performed brilliantly today. Hope we can continue with the same form.”
While talking about Shabbir Bappu, he said, “Shabbir has really added to the strength of the team, being a phenomenal raider as well as a defender. His presence has boosted my confidence as well.” On do or die raids, he had to say, “Do-or-die raid is a situation of extreme pressure. Generally, it’s me and Rajesh Narwal who have to turn up for a do-or-die raid.”
Balwan Singh, the coach of Jaipur Pink Panthers was interviewed after the game as well. He was asked for his opinion on the game strategy, and he said, “Our strategy was according to the opposition. We had plans for different raiders of the opposition. We won’t disclose much as we have to play no of matches in the coming days.”
Jaipur would obviously enjoy this victory, as it was the first for them this season. They would be hoping to capitalize on it and continue playing their upcoming matches the way they performed in this match with true determination and a phenomenal display of their skills as a team, and see their dreams of becoming two-time champions of PKL come true.