Pink Panthers, Bengaluru Bulls register thrilling wins

BENGALURU: Arjun Deshwal inspired a remarkable turnaround to help his team Jaipur Pink Panthers register a come-from-behind 35-32 win over Gujarat Giants. It was the defending champion’s first win in three matches in the ongoing 10th season of the Pro Kabaddi League. Gujarat, meanwhile, suffered its second successive defeat and what should hurt it here is how it squandered a sizeable lead after dominating the first half.

Going into half-time, Gujarat was well placed at 20-12. Both defence and offence led by captain Fazel Atrachali and Sonu posed quite a few problems for the defending champion. Jaipur’s revival started soon after second half began with Arjun getting into his groove following a rather uncharacteristically subdued opening half. Arjun finished with 15 points and in the process crossed a personal milestone of 700 raid points in the PKL.

In the post-match press conference, Gujarat coach Ram Mehar Singh said his team had paid the price for failing to carry on the momentum of the first half. “Both our raiding and defence failed in the second half after acquitting themselves very well in the first 20 minutes. Our raider Rakesh had a rare off-day but we have played only five games and there are still 17 more matches to follow, so we are not unduly concerned about our back-to-back defeats. I’m confident we will iron out these flaws in time for our next match and get back to winning ways.”

Relief was writ large on Jaipur captain Sunil Kumar’s visage as he addressed the media. “Arjun did what he does best and we always had the utmost confidence in him to turn things around and he once again repaid our faith in him.”

Sunil also credited lanky raider Bhavani Rajput for keeping his cool in the dying minutes of the game when the pressure was mounting. “Bhavani has done exceptionally well when the going was tough. As for him not featuring regularly for us it’s because we have other raiders in Arjun, V Ajith and Rahul Chaudhari. But I’m sure if he keeps performing consistently, he will get many more chances in the games ahead.”

In the evening’s second match, home favourite and former champion Bengaluru Bulls overcame a slow start to earn a thrilling 38-36 win over UP Yoddhas. Egged on by a boisterous crowd who were desperate for their team to end a worrying sequence of four defeats on the trot, the Bulls didn’t let their fans down as they held their nerve to turn the tables on Yoddhas by winning the decisive moments of the game. Bengaluru raiders Vikash Kandola and crowd favourite Bharat scored an identical 11 points each to steer their team to a morale-boosting win. For UP, Pardeep Narwal scored 13 points but he would have been surely disappointed having let the early lead slip that resulted in his team’s second defeat.