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Sunday's Pro Kabaddi League encounter between the Bengal Warriors and the Bengaluru Bulls was defined by one major controversial decision by the referee. In the second half, Ravinder Pahal was shown a red card for apparently spewing abuse at the referee.
Pahal and Gurvinder Singh had successfully pinned down Korean, Jang Kun Lee and probably should have been awarded two points for a Super Tackle. However, Lee was allowed to wrestle his way towards the half line even after a good five seconds after the initial tackle.
In a major surprise, the officials decided to award a super raid to Jang Kun Lee instead and Bulls defender, Ravinder Pahal was absolutely disgusted with the decision. He reportedly vented his frustration by spewing cuss words towards at the officials and as a consequence, he received the first red card of Pro Kabaddi League season 5.
After the game, Bengaluru captain Rohit Kumar was equally annoyed by the referee's decision and strongly expressed his opinions.
"It was not a red card according to me but it was Ravinder's mistake to some extent as well. He argued with the referee but it deserved a green or yellow, nothing more. Our team was completely down after that, it's a big loss to the team that Ravinder was shown the red card," he explained.
Further explaining why Pahal shouldn't have received a red, Kumar believes that the referee waited too long to blow the whistle and suggested that Lee received preferential treatment.
"Ravinder had held down Jang Kun Lee for quite some time. It is the responsibility of the referee to make a decision after three seconds but he waited for 6-7 seconds before he made the decision. If it was me, the whistle would have been blown earlier for sure," he said.
Whilst Bengal had taken the lead courtesy of Virender's massive four-point raid, the Bulls kept chipping away with crucial raid points while Bengal's raiders were equally successful. However, following the Korean's raid and Pahal's dismissal, the game was one for the Warriors' to lose.
Rohit believes that the controversial decision completely changed the outcome of the game.
"It was definitely the turning point of the match. If we had tackled Jang Kun Lee, it would have been a super tackle, we would have got two points. I would have entered the mat as well. There wasn't much difference in the scores," he opined.
Outspoken Bengaluru coach, Randhir Singh was surprisingly missing from the press conference. It is obvious that the Bulls management did not want him to rant about the decision.
