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On the third attempt, Jaipur Pink Panthers won at home by beating Bengaluru Bulls 36-23. This was also the defending champions’ first win of the second season in their 5th match of the tournament. Jasvir Singh was the architect of the Panthers’ win as the home team came back from being 10-15 down to win by 13 points.
Bengaluru Bulls captain Manjeet Chhillar was tagged in the first raid itself by Jaipur’s star raider Jasvir Singh, while Ajay Thakur was caught in Bulls’ second raid as the Panthers set the marker in the second minute by taking a 2-0 lead. However, Dharmaraj Cheralathan showed his experience and helped his team level the score at 3-3 after 6 minutes.
In the 10th minute, Jasvir Singh then took the bull by its horns, literally, single-handedly pushing Rajesh Mondal out of the court and getting Cheralathan out, while tackling Manjeet Chhillar as well in the span of a little over 1 minute to help his team lead 7-5.
But, the Bulls, who have won 4 matches out of 5 this season, courtesy of Manjeet Chhillar’s raids, went on a 4-point run to lead 9-7. Gangadhari Mallesh was having none of it though as with just 2 Panthers defenders left, he caught Chhillar with a strong ankle hold to come up with a super tackle. In the next minute, though, the team from Karnataka completed the all out and led 14-10.
All Jaipur from the 19th minute
With the final minute to go, Jaipur were trailing 10-15, but Kuldeep Singh delivered the turning moment of the match when he got 4 Bengaluru players out in a single raid. The Panthers got an all out of their own with just seconds left on the clock as the home side went into the break leading 19-15. The final minute yielded 9 unanswered points for the home side!
The first successful raid of the second half came 4 minutes after the restart when Ajay Thakur returned from his foray successfully to reduce his team’s deficit to just 3 points (20-17). But, that was the closest they came in the match as the home side, buoyed by the crowd, rallied ahead and increased their lead to 6 points with 10 minutes left on the clock.
Jasvir Singh was having a brilliant match and he helped the Panthers increase their lead further. In the 35th minute, the Bulls were on the verge of another all out when they had only two defenders left and Jasvir Singh made the most of it to tag one of them. Dharmaraj Cheralathan’s resultant raid was unsuccessful as the Panthers extended their lead to 11 points courtesy of 2 all out points.
The Randhir Singh-coached side looked shell-shocked and were unable to stage a comeback as the Panthers kept on increasing their lead, never letting the Bulls back in the match. They kept on increasing the gap between them and the challengers till the end of the match and ended with a massive 36-23 victory. Jasvir Singh gave a brilliant all-round performance with 5 raid points and 3 tackle points against the Bulls.
Jaipur Pink Panthers will now face Dabang Delhi in the last match of the Jaipur leg, while Bengaluru Bulls fly to Patna, where they will face the imposing Telugu Titans on 31st July.
Man of the match: Jasvir Singh
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