The Bengal Warriors crashed to just their second defeat of the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi Season Three against U Mumba as the defending champions ran out comfortable 32-21 winners on Sunday evening at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune. The Warriors were in the contest till half time, albeit trailing U Mumba, but completely fell off the pace in the second half allowing U Mumba to cruise to a win.
Bengal Warriors’ star raider Nitin Tomar admitted to Sportskeeda after the game that his side took a U Mumba side minus their four key players a little too lightly. “We considered this U Mumba side to be slightly weak, with their key players away at the SAF games. I think that was a big mistake on our part and we paid the price of underestimating our opponent,” Nitin Tomar said.
The deadly raider who is making his debut in the Pro Kabaddi League felt that the defeat serves his team as the much-needed wake-up call. “We were very confident about this game. What the defeat does is that, it keeps us grounded. I think we became slightly over-confident, but after the loss, we have learnt our lesson. It is necessary to show more respect to an opponent like U Mumba,” added Tomar.
However, Tomar was also quick to not dwell too much on the loss, which was just the second loss that the Warriors had faced this season. “There is nothing to worry about. There are ups and downs in every sport. This is just the second defeat we have had this season and we are still in the second place in the table, so we must look forward and try to avoid the mistakes that we did today,” added Tomar.
The next game doesn’t come any easier for the Bengal Warriors as they play the Patna Pirates in Patna on Tuesday, but Tomar believes his team would be more focused in their next game after this loss. “We know it will be a tough game against Patna Pirates, but the team would be more focused now in the next game after this defeat. I think it will be a good game,” Tomar concluded as he assured a much-improved performance from his Warriors against the league leaders.
