"People called me Chanakya, these guys have made me zero" - Coach Randhir Sehrawat slams Pardeep Narwal and team for their poor run at PKL 11
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Such is sport. But rarely, do you lose so consistently and miserably that even the coach starts to question his career choices. Right now, that is exactly the rut the Bengaluru Bulls find themselves in.
Their start to the 11th season of the Pro-Kabaddi League has been nothing short of a nightmare. Currently, we are 22 matches into the tournament, and out of the 12 teams, the Bulls are the only ones to have not registered even a single victory. Three out of their four losses have been one-sided drubbings.
Following their latest defeat against Puneri Paltan, coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat sat at the post-match press conference wearing a stern expression — that of an angry cloud, ready to burst. Captain Pardeep Narwal sat by his side with shoulders hunched, body shrunk inwards, almost as if he was trying to disappear.
"What is your take on the loss?" asked a journalist. Sehrawat picked the mic up and exploded like a hapless parent of a notorious kid in front of the school headmaster. He minced no words while expressing his disappointment.
"Kehne ko kuch hai hi nahi (There is nothing to say). 11th season has turned out to be my worst season," said Sehrawat. "Four matches...one-sided. Never happened before in history. We haven’t played this way ever in life."
The rant went on for a bit. While Sehrawat was busy venting his frustration, Narwal caved in a bit further - every line of his posture serving as a quiet apology for the loss.
"When I work on offense, the defense goes down," added Sehrawat. "When I work on defense, the offense goes away. When I boost their morale, they get so motivated that there is no limit. Meri toh samajh se ye bahar hai ki karein toh karein kya. (I am out of ideas, what to do?)."
Sehrawat is regarded as one of the top coaches of the sport. He has been in charge of the Bulls since the very first season and has also guided them to the trophy once. Few people understand better than him that winning and losing are part and parcel of sport. However, it is the manner of defeats that has left him distraught.
Bulls lost the opening fixture of the season to Telugu Titans by a margin of eight points. In their second match, they slipped from a leading position in the final few minutes to hand Gujarat Giants the win. In the next two encounters, they succumbed to hefty defeats — by 21 points against UP Yoddhas and 14 points against the defending champions.
"They are not even giving the coach a chance!" exclaimed Sehrawat, "When a match is within three, four, five points, the coach runs his brains — who to substitute, how to go about things. But in a 10-12-point game, what does the coach do? The coach gets upset. The coach does not get a chance to say a word. What does he say? He has nothing to say. They didn’t even give a chance."
"People used to call me Chanakya, these guys have rendered me as zero," he added.
"These are all senior players. What more do I tell them?" says Randhir Singh Sehrawat
As a coach, Randhir Singh Sehrawat has seen ups and downs in the last 11 years. In fact, in Season 3, the Bulls had a similar run. They won just two out of their 14 matches. However, the squad did not include heavyweights like Pardeep Narwal and Ajinkya Pawar then.
"In the third season, the players had an average age of 19 years. Even then, the difference used to be three points at most. This never happened," said Sehrawat. "These are all senior players. What more do I tell them? They have made one-sided loses a tradition. (Lost the) third match by 21 points. This one by 12-13 points. (14 points, actually)."
As the veteran coach continued to hurl barbs, skipper Narwal exhibited sheepish body language. He even gestured for the journalists to not ask him any questions. Meanwhile, Sehrawat carried on:
"I am always trying to boost their morale. Alone morale doesn’t do the job. Morale looks good on paper. These are uneducated folks, morale alone won’t do it for them. In three matches, we had lot of morale. What happened?"
While the start has been dispiriting, Sehrawat knows there is still a long way to go. Every team plays 22 matches each in the league stage, following which the top six go through to the playoffs.
"I am still not losing hope. 18 matches still to go, you can’t lose hope," said Sehrawat. "I would still be patient. But what I mean to say is this is not how you play. This puts everyone at a loss. Kabaddi is at a loss. Bengaluru Bulls are at a loss. The viewers are at a loss. The league is at a loss. They are such senior players, they should think themselves."
Bengaluru Bulls play their next match against Dabbang Delhi KC on Tuesday, October 29.