Bengaluru Bulls coach Randhir Sehrawat was furious with his team's defenders after they lost the Pro Kabaddi 2022 match against UP Yoddhas by 37-44 on Sunday, October 16. Pardeep Narwal and Surender Gill scored 14 points each as they destroyed the Bulls' defense at the Shree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium.
Courtesy of the Super 10s from Pardeep and Surender, the Yoddhas dominated the Bengaluru-based side. The scoreline was 37-16 at one point. Vikash Khandola and Bharat then scored points for the Bulls and reduced their losing margin to seven points.
Bharat scored nine points in the game, while Khandola recorded a Super 10. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Randhir Sehrawat commented on his team's defeat and said:
"I cannot blame the raiders. Bharat scored points, even Vikash Khandola performed well, but what did the defense do? We gave away too many touch points. Even Mahender himself, being the captain, he did not do anything. We did better after halftime, but things could have been different had we performed the same way in the first half."
Bengaluru Bulls' defense had a horrendous night as they were able to execute only five successful tackles. They attempted 31 tackles, of which 26 were unsuccessful.
Captain Mahender Singh scored only one tackle point and committed four unsuccessful tackles during the match.
When Pardeep Narwal was at his peak, you check the records, he did not score Super 10 against us: Bengaluru Bulls coach Randhir Sehrawat
Pardeep has struggled to perform well in recent matches, but he blew away the Bengaluru defense tonight. Randhir Sehrawat mentioned that even when Pardeep was in top form, he could not score too many points against his team in the past. However, his defenders gifted him points in their PKL 2022 match.
"When Pardeep Narwal was at his peak, you check the records, he did not score Super 10 against us. We did not lose this match to our opponents, we lost it to overconfidence. Pardeep scored some very easy points. Before we prepared strategy and followed it in season five, six, we became champions," added Sehrawat.
The Bengaluru Bulls will play their next match against Tamil Thalaivas on October 19. It will be interesting to see how the defense performs in that match.