Bengaluru Bulls: Charging on Together
Season eight of the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League kicked off on the 22nd of December, after a gap of 796 days. Following 39 matches of exhilarating Kabaddi, the Bulls sit on top of the table, With five wins, one tie and one defeat. This write-up will outline the key ingredients behind the storming start to the season.
Before the auctions for this season, the Bulls had retained Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Saurabh Nandal, Amit Sheoran, Mohit Sehrawat and Banty. The ‘hi-flier’ Pawan took the league by storm in the Bulls’ title-winning 2018 campaign, bagging the MVP award after posting eye-watering numbers throughout the season. Pawan amassed 282 points with a raid strike rate of 72% in season six. In season seven, he improved his tally to a whopping 360 points, becoming only the second player after Pardeep Narwal to score more than 300 points in a season. While the Bulls fell short in 2019, losing to Dabang Delhi in the semi-finals, Pawan rose to new heights, winning the ‘Best Raider’ award for his 346 raid points. Retaining Pawan was a no-brainer, but coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat decided to part with skipper Rohit Kumar. In an interview with Sportskeeda, coach Randhir said, “I build stars, not buy them at auctions.”
Saurabh Nandal and Amit Sheoran were steadily improving as a corner combination season after season. The Bulls shelled out ₹ 80 Lakh on left raider Chandran Ranjit, ₹ 26.50 Lakh on Deepak Narwal and ₹ 25 Lakh on More GB. They used the Final Bid Match (FBM) card to bring Left Cover Mahender Singh back into the set-up for ₹ 50 Lakh, while the raiding department was further strengthened with the acquisitions of Iranian Abolfazl Maghsodlou and South Korean Dong Geon Lee. There were a few glaring weaknesses post the auction. Mayur Kadam, the young and untested right cover who showed flashes of brilliance in the 68th Senior National Kabaddi Championship, was the only pick for that position. Lanky raider Bharat Naresh, who impressed in the Haryana Senior Championships and Left Corner Aman, who was part of the squad in 2019, were drafted in before the season. While some fans questioned the Moneyball approach in the auctions, it became clear once the season began that one must never question the watchful eyes and astute decision making of coach Randhir Sehrawat, who has been with the club since its inception.
Bengaluru Bulls started their season with a crushing 30–46 defeat to U Mumba. Randhir Singh preferred Aman over Amit Sheoran in the left corner and Bharat Naresh as the third raider. The Bulls defence was taken apart by Mumba’s Abhishek Singh, and the former Bulls protégé Ashish Kumar was outstanding in defence. Chandran Ranjit showed promise on his debut, earning 13 raid points. The Bulls bounced back with a morale-boosting 38–30 victory against Southern rivals Tamil Thalaivas. The defensive unit was unstoppable in the second half; right corner Saurabh Nandal snared a high 5. Randhir Singh persisted with Aman and Bharat, and the youngsters backed the coach’s confidence in them with stellar displays. Bharat picked up three raid points and contributed to 2 tackles from left-in. Aman had an outstanding outing, racking up three tackle points and ably supporting Saurabh with assists. Mayur Kadam, despite being error-prone, had three tackle points to his name. That second-half defensive display was a statement of intent to the rest of the teams that this is a fast-learning and hungry unit that is not afraid to get involved in advanced tackles.
In their third match, the Bulls prevailed in a cliff-hanging 36–35 victory over the defending champions, Bengal Warriors. After a quiet start to the season, Pawan Sehrawat finally found his mojo and went blow for blow with Maninder Singh. Pawan’s seven-point raid as a retort to Maninder’s 6-pointer minutes prior left viewers gobsmacked. The Hi-flier finally fluttered his wings and soared above with 15 raid points. The Warriors did not back down without a fight; their talismanic Iranian all-rounder Esmaeil Nabibakhsh tormented the Bulls’ defence in the second half and held on to three tackle points as the teams went into the final 50 seconds level on points. Coach Randhir brought in Dong Geon Lee as a substitute. The Warriors’ right corner Abozar Mighani was having a poor outing, and Lee, being a left raider, was thrown straight into the action. The South Korean instantly made his way into the club’s folklore with a timely two-point raid. Mahender Singh and Pawan Sehrawat showed their experience in the dying seconds, as the Bulls held on to victory in dramatic circumstances.
The fourth match was a comprehensive 42–28 victory against the Haryana Steelers, with Pawan bagging 22 points in total and the defence contributing to 18 points combined. More GB, who was subbed on in the second half, is morphing into an excellent all-rounder and had four tackle points to show for in the night. Aman impressed yet again with four tackle points, Mahender Singh led the defence with four points of his own.
A 34–34 tie against the winless Telugu Titans exposed how teams could tame the Bulls. Pawan was kept off the mat for 28 out of the 40 minutes. The coach instructed the players to play on the do-or-die raids, and the defence came good yet again. Amit Sheoran contributed to super-tackles as a substitute, as Saurabh Nandal continued his rich vein of form. The tie was secured with captain Pawan Sehrawat holding on to Rohit Kumar’s elbow in the final raid of the game, as the rest of the defence gleefully pounced on the former Bulls’ skipper.
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While Pawan Sehrawat has contributed to 37.5 % of the team’s points, the well-oiled defence of the Bengaluru Bulls has contributed handsomely to their dominance so far. The Bulls followed up with a comeback 40–29 win against the Puneri Paltan, after trailing 13–18 at half-time. The team then posted a 38–31 win against the Jaipur Pink Panthers. The bench strength, whenever called upon, have delivered. Deepak Narwal finally made his debut against the Pink Panthers, and he could have a crucial role to play in the team’s success in the season. The head physiotherapist of the Bulls, Dr Arvind Yadav, has earned high praise for his contributions in keeping the players fit and firing.
In the game of Kabaddi, momentum can shift in the blink of an eye. This Bulls unit has all the right ingredients to succeed under the tutelage of Randhir Singh, as the quest to replace the tears of pain shed in 2019 with the tears of joy shed in 2018 is well underway.
(With inputs from Nithin Gowda)
