Sehrawat sizzles in Southern Derby as Bengaluru Bulls score first home win

A sensational performance from ‘Hi-Flyer’ Pawan Kumar Sehrawat led Bengaluru Bulls to a 33-27 win over Tamil Thalaivas the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday. Left Corner Amit Sheoran, too, had a night to remember, finishing with a High 5. This was Bengaluru Bulls’ first victory at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in over three years.

Bengaluru Bulls' skipper Rohit Kumar opened the scoring with a two-point raid, but two unanswered points from Tamil Thalaivas, courtesy of ‘Showman’ Rahul Chaudhari and Manjeet Chhillar, brought parity to the scoreline. Chaudhari added another point to his tally but met a quick response from Sehrawat. The two teams were to-and-fro over the next nine minutes with Bengaluru Bulls taking a two-point lead on multiple occasions only to be pegged back by Tamil Thalaivas.

With the scoreboard reading 11-10 in the home side’s favour, Chaudhari came in for a quick pursuit but was tackled by Amit Sheoran. In the subsequent raid, Sehrawat got two touch points to give Bengaluru Bulls the largest lead of the half. Tamil Thalaivas, though, finished the half strongly by scoring three unanswered points and went into the break trailing by just a solitary point at 13-14.

Sumit Singh’s touch point early in the second period revived a defender for Bengaluru Bulls, and it came in handy in Tamil Thalaivas’ next Do-or-Die raid, as the three men pinned down Ajay Thakur. This not only added two points to their team’s score but also brought Sehrawat back on to the mat. The reigning MVP put in four successive successful raids in the ensuing period, scoring six raid points, doubling his tally on the night, and reducing Tamil Thalaivas down to two men.

The visitors showed resilience, as V Ajith Kumar’s successful raid followed by two Super Tackles from the defence saw them embark on a 5-1 run, which cut the deficit to just two. But just a couple of minutes later, Bengaluru Bulls finally made their numerical advantage count, as Sehrawat’s two-point raid, followed by Amit Sheoran’s fifth tackle point of the night helped the home side inflict the game’s first All-Out.

Trailing by nine, Tamil Thalaivas managed to finish the contest with a 4-1 run to bring the deficit under seven and earn a point. However, it was Bengaluru Bulls who emerged victorious and climbed to third in the vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 7 standings.

Top Performers:

Bengaluru Bulls –

Best Raider – Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (17 Raid Points)

Best Defender – Amit Sheoran (5 Tackle Points)

Tamil Thalaivas –

Best Raider – Rahul Chaudhari (7 Raid Points)

Best Defender -  Manjeet Chhillar (4 Tackle Points)