Coach kept telling me to reduce my weight, notes Pardeep Narwal

Bengaluru Bulls coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat and captain Mahender Singh were not happy with their defence.

Bengaluru Bulls were left red-faced after UP Yoddhas handed them their second straight defeat on home soil in PKL 9. Despite mounting a second-half fight-back and managing to take a point away, coach Randhir was not happy with his captain Mahender Singh. Yoddhas ran out 44-37 winners as the Bulls managed only 5 tackle points in total. Pardeep Narwal put in a vintage performance with 14 raid points and Surender Gill matched the Record Breaker’s tally. Here is what the coaches and captains from both teams had to say in the post-match press conference.

Bengaluru Bulls: Coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat and captain Mahender Singh

How do you see that defeat?

Despite bringing in an untested Rajnesh at right cover to replace the misfiring Mayur Kadam, there was no unity in the Bulls defence. Mahender Singh pointed out the specific errors on the night and said, “We made a lot of mistakes. We let them do super raids. We stuck to our high line but their raiders had their strategy nailed.”

Pardeep’s performance

Coach Randhir Singh heaped praise on Pardeep Narwal after his superb outing and said, “Pardeep was at his peak. In previous seasons we did not let him take a Super 10 against us despite him being a champion. You ask him (Mahender) what mistakes he did. Our raiders scored high but our defence was nowhere tonight."

Defensive Unit’s poor performance

Bulls were one of the teams to retain the entire core of their defence prior to the PKL 9 auction. On their night they can work very well together but the UP raiders ripped them apart. Coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat was strong in his assessment and said, “They (Defenders) kept getting touched as the score kept building. Mahender as a captain did absolutely nothing tonight.”

How the Bulls managed to get a point despite trailing by 20 points

Through Vikash’s quick raids, the Bulls managed to salvage a point. They were trailing 40-20 with 10 minutes to go. On being asked how the comeback was mounted coach answered, “I told Vikash to get bonuses and he raided with understanding. Bharat is new so he could not exploit the bonus. I knew that our right cover is weak but Saurabh and Mahender were to blame. The right cover Rajnesh did not get touched but from the left there were a lot of mistakes. I think it is a record. 28 raid points with just two bonuses. Nobody even tried to tackle. I don’t want to dampen the mood more, there are 18 more matches left and 3 at home to keep our respect. We lost this match because of over-confidence.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EldGN55pMg4

UP Yoddhas: Coach Jasveer Singh, Captain Nitesh Kumar, and Pardeep Narwal

How did the Bulls manage to come back?

Coach Jasveer outlined that keeping players fit throughout the course of the league is the priority and answered, “After a 20-point lead, we started to play safe. I did not want any injuries. There was no need to be aggressive, so I slowed the pace of the game. We would have won anyway.”

Stopping the Bulls raiders

The three Bengaluru Bulls raiders struggled to fire as a pack, and Neeraj Narwal picked up just one raid point. On the strategy to keep them silent, Nitesh said, “Yes it was a conscious strategy. The coach said to use the covers to stop Bharat and Neeraj and it worked well.”

Pardeep’s return to form and that four-point raid

Pardeep Narwal came back with a bang after a slow start to the season, picking up his first Super 10. He answered, “Coach kept telling me every day to reduce my weight. For the super raid, they kept going low so I jumped high and broke the chain.”

After a positive start, the Bulls are slowly slipping down the table and face Tamil Thalaivas on Wednesday. UP Yoddha will look to consolidate their top four credentials against Gujarat Giants in PKL 9.