After a decent start to the season where the Bengaluru Bulls won 3 and drew 1 of their first 5 matches, the team has been on a downward slope ever since. With 3 losses in a row and 2 of them coming at home, the fans of the side, which spent bucket loads of money at the auction ahead of Pro Kabaddi Season 4, have been left shell-shocked.
The team, however, have refused to throw in the towel and insist that the squad is motivated despite recent setbacks.
“We are motivated. We have a good fan base and a very strong team,” said Mr. Vinay Kumar, the team manager of Bengaluru Bulls.
However, he did admit that the team is making silly errors and not performing to the level they can. The Bulls were matching the Jaipur Pink Panthers every step of the match yesterday and even had the lead in the 35th minute.
However, an error by the team forced the referees to award the visitors a technical point while the home side ran out of steam in the last 2 minutes as they succumbed to a 22-24 loss.
“When we underperform, it gets a little demotivating. Being the home team, we are trying our best, but we are making silly mistakes and that’s why we are losing. It’s only because of some small mistakes that we are missing out on wins,” Vinay confessed.
Record buy Mohit Chhillar, however, was defiant that they will improve.
“Today, we lost due to silly errors, but we performed better than yesterday. We will give much more in the upcoming match, tomorrow and improve our defence,” said the 23-year-old.
“We are making silly errors”
On being quizzed why the team is unable to hold on to the lead and if it is because of the relatively young squad they have, Mohit said that there are seniors in the squad who help keep the team calm in tense situations. He insisted that it is due to silly errors that they have lost the last few matches, something he believes will be corrected in upcoming matches.
“There are seniors in our squad – Rohit Kumar, Surender Nada and Amit Rathi – who help the youngsters during the match. But, we commit during the game like in today’s match if Pawan Kumar would have won the point in the penultimate raid, we would have won. So you can see that there are small margins, due to which we are losing. But, we aim to turn this around,” said the most expensive player in Pro Kabaddi history.
Near the end of the first half, the Bulls were trailing the Pink Panthers by 5 points. However, some choice words by coach Randhir Singh at the interval helped the team stage a comeback and outscore their opponents 11-2 in the next 9 minutes and take the lead. Mohit revealed what the reputed coach told the team.
“Randhir Sir asked us to wait till the third raid and tackle only in the final 10 seconds of that raid as the raider starts panicking at that time. This helped us close the gap,” revealed the Bengaluru Bulls defender.
On star raider and Season 3 MVP Rohit Kumar’s form, the man from Nizampur, Delhi, said that Rohit is playing well, but there is always room for improvement.
“Early in the first half, and late in the second, we made silly errors that cost us the match. Rohit played well, but there were a few areas where he and the entire team could have done better. But, I am sure this will improve in the coming games,” the confident Mohit Chhillar quipped.
Bengaluru Bulls face the daunting Patna Pirates tonight as they aim to stop their rut. The defending champions are also on a 2-match losing streak and will be hoping to capitalize on Bulls’ poor form.
