Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Bengaluru Bulls coach tears into referee who asked him to lift water bottles

Playing at home and being humbled by the opposition defence is never a good feeling. On Sunday, the Patna Pirates ran riot over a hapless Bengaluru Bulls. The visitors won the match by a massive 14 points.

With emotions running high, things spiralled out of control in the second half. Bengaluru Bulls coach, Randhir Singh received a suspension for engaging in a heated argument with the referee. But the coach revealed that the referee asked him to do something which he considered insulting.

“The referee asked me to do something that isn’t my job. There was some water bottles on the mat, he asked me to pick it up. I told him this is not my job; my job is to coach the team. I am focused on the game, how I can lift the bottle?”

With the Bulls trailing by a massive margin, the coach decided to call for a time out and rightly so. But during the time out, there were some used water bottles lying on the mat and the referee wanted it to be removed immediately but Bengaluru’s coach wasn’t in the mood to entertain the referee's request.

“I never told the official anything, I never instructed the players from outside. The referee complained about the bottles, I told him this is not my job. I told him you should look at it. I never shouted,” Randhir said.

With two back to back losses, the Bulls have a hectic week coming up as they are lined up to play consecutive matches. But the coach is relieved that they finally have an off day on Monday. He reckons the Pro Kabaddi league is too unpredictable this time.

“We don’t want to make too many mistakes now. But you can never tell what can happen in Pro Kabaddi. Yesterday U.P Yoddhas beat us, today they lost badly to Bengal Warriors. We have to focus on ourselves. Rohit alone played well. Ajay too couldn’t perform,” he said.

Bulls captain, Rohit Kumar shrugged off suggestions that tiredness played a part in both their losses. Kumar believes playing matches on the trot is something that he has been doing since his early days during local competitions.

“No, I used to play 5 matches in a single day during local tournaments. There is rest and recovery every day. If you have a good diet, you will recover quickly,” Rohit said.

Bengaluru Bulls are slated to play Telugu Titans next on Tuesday, 8th August.