We have lost only once against Tamil Thalaivas, notes Randhir Singh Sehrawat

J Udaya Kumar rued the fitness of his players against Bengaluru Bulls.

Randhir Singh Sehrawat's Bengaluru Bulls returned to winning ways with a resounding 45-28 victory against J Udaya Kumar's Tamil Thalaivas in PKL 9. Bharat was crucial, notching up 11 raids and one tackle point. The defence was back to their belligerent best with 10 tackle points in total. Tamil Thalaivas failed to secure a single all-out in a dispirited performance. Here is what the coaches and captains had to say.

Bengaluru Bulls: Coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat, captain Mahender Singh and Vikash Kandola.

About the match

Bengaluru Bulls have dominated the head-to-head against Thalaivas over the years. Coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat made securing the victory a mission and said, “I told the guys if we lose to Tamil Thalaivas then what is the point? We have lost only one against them. We had a couple of days to strategize. Today every player contributed. We gave bonuses and took bonuses too.”

Problems at the right cover?

The Bulls decided to back Mayur Kadam again at right cover, despite him not getting a single tackle point this season. Mahender backed the decision and said, “This was also a strategy. Coach told us to let the bonus go. More is a good option when there are five playing. We could have changed again but we gave him a run. How many points our defenders get does not matter but stopping the opposition raiders matter.”

Fan support

The Kanteerava Stadium was packed to the brim once again, as the Bulls faithful thronged in numbers to witness the Southern derby. The decibel levels were unbelievable from start to finish. Vikash credits the supporters and said, “We are doing well only because of the fans’ support. Whatever mistakes happened in the previous match, especially in defence were erased by Mahender and Saurabh, Neeraj was vital too. There is a reason why coach Sahab is called the Chanakya of Kabaddi.”

Opposition raiders exploited the bonus

The Thalaivas’ raiding trio of Narender, Himanshu, and Visvanath put in a total of 13 bonuses combined. On asked the reasoning behind this coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat answered, “It was a strategy. In every match, there is a different strategy in place. When we had 5 players, I got into GB more. It is all a strategy. I told you before that Bharat will get 190-200 points, but I can tell for sure that he will average 8-9 raid points per game. I know every point matters, so I told the players not to play safe towards the end.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s32q3VFxBdw

Tamil Thalaivas: Coach J Udaya Kumar and captain Sagar

How do you analyze the match?

The defeat was hard to swallow for Thalaivas and it breaks their flow after getting their first win last time out against Patna Pirates. Coach Udaya Kumar spoke of fitness issues plaguing his squad and said, “Lot of our team members were not fit. Captain also was carrying a knock in his thigh. Due to this, we were not able to capitalize on the crucial moments. There is a fever spreading across our camp and Narender also had 102 degrees temperature which did not let him train.”

Himanshu’s performance

Himanshu Singh backed up his debut Super 10 last game with eight points against the Bulls in PKL 9. The coach J Udaya Kumar said, “Himanshu is a New Young Player and we kept him in our squad under that category. We trained him and gave him sufficient practice, now his confidence is better, and he will improve with more experience.”

Playing against the crowd

The deafening roars of the raucous Bulls fans did dent the Thalaivas youngsters’ according to the coach J Udaya Kumar. He added, “There is a lot of pressure as we do not have mature players. They were affected by the crowd and made mistakes due to the pressure.”

Thalaivas will look to regain their fitness before their match against the Thalaivas on Sunday. Bengaluru Bulls face U Mumba on Saturday in PKL 9.