Bengaluru Bulls qualify for the semis in style

Bengaluru Bulls made the semis in style as they reaffirmed their supremacy over Telugu Titans by eking out a big 43-29 win. The Bulls had won the previous meeting against the Titans in Season 2 convincingly 35-21 in Patna. The Bulls now hold a 3-0 win record over the Titans over both seasons of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. They remain in third place with 42 points behind the Titans who have 45 points. Both of them will face each other again in the round of four irrespective of the outcome of their last games at Pune.

Titans took the field by resting their main hit man Rahul Chaudhari and Sukesh Hegde who was nursing an injury. They also preferred to keep Captain Meraj Sheykh out after some time. It was a wise decision having already made the knock-out grade. It is their first entry into the semis which they missed narrowly last season.

 The star for the Bulls  today was their super raider Ajay Thakur who came up with a superb raid of five points to inflict the first all-out on Titans. Ajay’s final score was six points.

The Titans never recovered after that. From 10-2 the Bulls consolidated their lead to walk out at 19-9 at half-time. Helping Ajay by leading from the front was Manjeet Chhillar right from the start. His frontal blocks on rival raiders gave him a tally of five points and his four raiding points too were substantial for the team’s tally. 

One expected the Titans to come back but that wasn’t to be. They gave Rohit Baliyan and Prashant Rai a look in and both of them tried their best especially the latter as he collected four points and also was responsible in getting the Bulls all-out in the 33^rd minute. Veteran Dharmaraj Cheralathan also was a difficult barrier to overcome for Titans. He has a fine understanding with Somvir Shekhar and the other corner man Joginder Narwal and the development is a warning for Titans in the rematch.

Sandeep’s consistent form is a good sign for his team. The way the young lad in yellow goes about picking the rival raiders ankles and just twists them to immobilise the quarry should be a model lesson for all to follow.

So at the end of this phase there remains one spot for the taking and it will be either Jaipur or Patna although the Pirates losing to U Mumba today might just tilt the scales in favour of the defending champions.

After the match, former Indian cricketer and a well-respected figure in Bengaluru, Rahul Dravid had some words to say about the phenomenon of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi. “My kids and I absolutely love this sport. The athleticism and agility that each of the players exhibit in a kabaddi match is highly commendable and breath-taking to watch. It is truly amazing to see the sport being presented in such a great way.”

Match 49 – Bengaluru Bulls VS Telugu Titans