Bengaluru, (Samajweekly) Pawan Sehrawat was at his sublime best as Bengaluru Bulls decimated Jaipur Pink Panthers 38-31 in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 8 at The Sheraton Grand, Whitefield, here on Thursday.
The star raider scored 18 points, including one for a tackle, to help the Bulls regain that top spot on the points table.
Arjun Deshwal’s Super 10 helped Jaipur lose by a margin of just 7 which gave them one crucial point. Jaipur captain Deepak Hooda had yet another poor performance while Bengaluru second raider Chandran Ranjit was hardly required in a largely one-sided match.
Coach Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan made some brave moves ahead of the match by replacing big-name Sandeep Dhull for the experienced Dharmaraj Cheralathan. And the revitalised defence started the match well with Pawan Sehrawat being tackled successfully twice in the first minutes. But the ‘High-flyer’ is usually a slow starter, and he picked his game up as the half progressed. The Bulls got their first all out of the match in the 12th minute to open a 7-point lead.
At the other end, Arjun Deshwal kept Jaipur in the hunt with 6 raid points. But the first half, which ended 20-14 in favour of the Bulls, belonged completely to Pawan Sehrawat. He secured his Super 10 in quick time to put the pressure on Jaipur.
Jaipur sensed an opportunity to inflict an all out in the early minutes of the second half but Bulls’ substitute G.B. More produced 2 stunning tackles to revive their best players. Pawan Sehrawat was in no mood to even let Jaipur sniff a chance and his relentless raiding finally resulted in another ALL OUT and a 15-point lead in the 11th minute.
Arjun Deshwal secured yet another Super 10 as Pink Panthers capitalised on the Bulls’ casual approach on the mat. With the win secured, the Bulls defenders jumped into bad tackles and their carelessness gifted Panthers an all out in the last minute.
