Happy that Pawan performed at the Right Cover position, says Randhir Singh Sehrawat

An excellent overall performance led by Pawan Kumar Sehrawat’s 17-point effort gave Bengaluru Bulls a 47-26 victory over Telugu Titans at the Patliputra Indoor Stadium in Patna on Thursday. At the post-match press conference, coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat, Pawan Sehrawat and captain Rohit Kumar took questions for Bengaluru Bulls, while coach Gholamreza Mazandarani, Assistant coach Jagdish Kumble, Siddharth Desai and Armaan took questions for Telugu Titans. Here are some excerpts.

Bengaluru Bulls

This was a good all-round performance by the team. Your thoughts on the match?

Randhir Singh: I had mentioned earlier that the team’s support is extremely necessary. Only Pawan Sehrawat can’t keep carrying the team in every match. Today even Rohit Kumar managed to strike form. He didn’t just do well himself, he even inspired Pawan to do well. Everyone has contributed to this win. Mahender Singh, too, was in top form. In fact, most of our defenders have points and that too against Siddharth Desai, who is considered among the top raiders in kabaddi. Everyone knows Pawan performs well in raiding but today he went back to the Right Cover position where he used to play earlier which has made me happier.

Rohit, how much does it relieve the burden on the team when you have a player like Pawan in the team?

Rohit Kumar: As the coach said, the other raiders have to contribute too. It is not fair to put the entire burden of raiding on Pawan. It is a contact sport which means that if Pawan gets injured it will cause a big concern for the entire team. The plan was that we will split the raiding and if we both score it will be difficult to defeat the team. Our defence was spectacular today as well. The coach had said before the match that no matter who the raider is, if someone is going in for a tackle then everyone has to support him. That is how to team played. Going forward, I hope we both keep scoring so that it relieves the pressure from the defenders and they can perform in the same way.

Telugu Titans

Where do you think the team was lacking today?

Jagdish Kumble: I think it was our strategy that didn’t work today. The raiders did alright but the defensive strategy was not effective. If they had done better in Super Tackle situations, especially, then we could have done a lot better in this match.

Do you think there is a need to change your strategy in the coming matches?

Gholamreza Mazandarani: Yes, we need to change some things. With the current plan, I don’t think we will be able to succeed. Maybe we will bring in some newer, young players in the coming matches. Sometimes new players can do better than we expect.

Siddharth, this is your first Super 10 of the season but your team lost. How does it feel?

Siddharth Desai: It is difficult to come to terms with the result. I got Super Tackled early in the match which shifted the momentum to their side. In the coming matches I will try and ensure that I perform better at such times.