Bengaluru Bulls lost their first match at home this season, which inflicted further misery on the Season 2 finalists, who have now lost 3 matches in a row. Against Telugu Titans, the Bulls came up short as they succumbed to a 24-32 loss.
Season 3 MVP, Rohit Kumar talked about the team’s shortcomings and deduced the reasons behind the loss in the post-match press conference. The crowd gathered at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore were stunned as the Titans inflicted an all-out on the Bulls in the 7th minute.
A slow comeback saw the team from Bangalore reduce their compatriots to just 3 men with 1 minute left in the half. In the very next raid, Rohit Kumar won 2 touch points for his team as the Titans stared at an all-out. However, the team choked at the crucial stage and that turned the match around in favour of the visitors.
“They (Telugu Titans) only had 1 player left and when that’s the case, you have to give him the bonus point and leave him. Then, the raider will have no other option but to come deep and when he does so, you have to catch him. We made a mistake and when he went for the bonus, we tried to tackle him and Surender Nada got caught,” admitted Rohit.
In the second half, the Telugu Titans had their backs on the ropes plenty of times, but they held their own. Rohit accepted that the Bulls made plenty of errors.
“We were lucky to get the match in our hands a few times, but it finally ran out. We were getting out easily while we were unable to catch their raiders,” said a dejected Rohit. “No raider is perfect that they will get points in every raid, but it is their job to either get the point or get out. And we made a few mistakes there.”
Rahul Chaudhari scored 8 points against the Bulls and, along with Sandeep Narwal, took the match away from the Bulls. The former Patna Pirates star said that they need to be better in defence and stop the opposition raiders from getting easy points.
Rohit said, “Yes, we fell short in defence. We avoided their raiders a few times and were playing safe and were waiting to tackle. But, in the middle we were caught in two minds and that is never good. Rahul took advantage of that and carried his team through in the end.”
When asked about the lack of raiders in the team apart from him, the Season 3 MVP named Vinod Kumar as one to watch out for and said that as the tournament progresses, so will the team.
Despite the loss, the 26-year-old refused to accept that the side were out of the reckoning for the semi-final, saying that they will be back stronger and work hard for the other 3 matches at home.
Before departing for a much-needed break after his 8-point return, Rohit acknowledged the support the team got from the crowd and vowed to show them happier times.
“It feels great to play in front of these fans. We are getting great support by the vociferous crowd. But, we were not able to give one of the best fans in the country any joy. But, I promise, we’ll try our best and give them reason to cheer,” he signed off.
Bengaluru Bulls face Jaipur Pink Panthers tonight as they aim to ressurect their faltering season.
