It had been a hard time for the Bengaluru Bulls for a few days prior to their Kolkata leg of the Pro Kabaddi 2016 Season 4. After a couple of confidence-boosting wins, they lost the plot in the middle and slumped to six straight defeats which saw them becoming the first team to lose all four home matches in a single season. What hurt the team so badly was its total dependence on its star raider and last season’s MVP Rohit Kumar.
The Bulls star, who was the captain for the night, did come alive in their only match of the Kolkata leg against hosts Bengal Warriors. Riding on his eight-point haul, Randhir Singh’s men overturned a deficit to grab a long-awaited and much-coveted 27-25 win. Rohit Kumar admitted that it did a world of good to lift their spirits but it just might have been too late.
“We are very happy and relieved to finally have won after six straight losses. This win will be a huge boost for all of us,” he said, adding with a tinge of sadness, “If only we could have applied this same strategy and approach in our last few matches as well, we could have easily made our way into the semi-finals. That’s the only regret.”
"There is no second raider”
Their mid-season stumble has cost them badly and has almost robbed the Season 2 runners-up a place in the last-four. Last season, they had the services of Surjeet Narwal who finished inside the top 20 in the raiders’ leaderboard. With Surjeet joining the Bengal Warriors in Season 4, the Bulls do not really have any raider who could bail them out when the situation demanded. That is something the captain lamented during the press conference.
“He is such a good raider and did so well last season for the Bengaluru Bulls. We are seriously missing the services of an efficient second raider apart from me.
“We had Rohit Baliyan but he was not fit. If we had one such dependable player in our team, we could have had more confidence in our team and I too could have relied on him,” the India International explained.
On being asked what would be their strategy moving forward now that their semi-final chances look very bleak, the Bangalore leader refused to say it is completely all over for them. With two legs to go, if some massive upsets happen, the Bulls might just sneak in, he thinks.
“The door still has not closed for the semi-finals. This is such a tournament that you never know what happens when. Any underdog team can perform at an exceptional level and cause upsets. Our aim would always be to give our very best and try to win both the two matches that are left for us in the league.”
Rohit also went on to thank the crowd, who surprisingly were not totally partisan to their home team. Their attitude definitely helped the struggling Bulls to steal the last-minute win. He also hopes that the Mumbai and the Delhi fans too would be showering so much love on them.
“Felt very good that the Kolkata crowd gave so much love and support to the Bengaluru Bulls. I would like to thank them for the wonderful attitude. Hopefully we shall have so much support in all our remaining matches in the other legs as well.”
