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Bengaluru Bulls skipper Rohit Kumar was a lone warrior for his team against the formidable defending champions Patna Pirates in the Zone B clash at the Harivansh Tana Bhagat Indoor Stadium in Ranchi on Tuesday night.
With his team looking hapless and listless in the face of the storm called the Patna Pirates, the star raider took the matters in his own hands in the final quarter of the game to notch up a total of 15 points, which was the highest score by anyone in this match.
His genuine efforts helped erase a huge 17-point deficit but he still could not see his team through as the Bulls eventually fell 32-36, their ninth loss in 15 matches in the Season 5 of the Pro Kabaddi League.
Rohit Kumar’s disappointment was palpable in his voice as he shared his thoughts with the media after the match.
“I am not Bheem that I could go in and touch all players. If we could have got a couple more catches, things could have different," he said.
Both raiders of the Patna Pirates were top class even though their defence is not that good. If only I had someone to support me like that,” he lamented.
Rohit admitted that they had particularly made plans for the imperious Pardeep Narwal but it still turned out to be a disaster as the defenders could not execute the tactics they had wanted to employ.
The result was that Pardeep ran away with 11 points with Monu Goyat making merry as well with a rich haul of 12 points. Honest as ever, Rohit admitted that if only Pardeep could have been kept on the sidelines for a longer time, they might have pulled it off.
“The planning was definitely there for Pardeep, just the execution was not perfect. If Pardeep had been out for more time, we could have won.”
The Patna coach Ram Mehar Singh, on his part, confessed that the Pirates took it easy after that mammoth 17-point lead. That complacency is hurting them quite a bit as they are regularly conceding big leads.
“With a big 17-point lead, we took it easy and thought we could concede a few points. That is actually why we have ended up with close scores of late. I consider it to be a win by 14-15 point margin and not by a 4-point margin because we had loosened our grip,” Singh said, making quite a statement.
The Pirates mentor was also full of praise for Monu Goyat. The Pirates have been banking more on their second raider to ensure that Pardeep fully recovers from the head injury and does not hurt himself further.
The way Goyat has stepped up on being saddled with more responsibility, has been quite impressive which is why the Patna franchise now has a lot of faith in him.
“Since Pardeep sustained the head injury, we have had to be careful not to aggravate it. So, we have been using Monu Goyat extensively and he has been delivering. Jab cheetah se kam ho jae, tab sher ko kyun use karein?,” remarked Singh, signing off. (When a cheetah can do the job, why use the lion
