PKL Season 6, Match 19: Raiders shine again as Bulls continue their winning run
Bengaluru Bulls, led by another terrific raiding display, clinched another win against the Tamil Thalaivas 44-35 in the first match of today's evening.
The Bulls' top raider from their previous match, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat continued his fine form to score 16 points for his side including 2 tackle points. This was Pawan's second consecutive 15+ score, after his splendid 20-point performance against the same opponents earlier in the season.
Kashiling Adake improved upon his previous performance to score 10 raid points from 19 attempted raids, and also contributed with 2 tackle points.
Rohit Kumar, the Bulls' captain, was happy to take the back seat for the second match in a row and let Pawan and Kashi clean out the opposition's defence.
The defence of the Bulls complemented their attack well with 12 tackle points. Ashish Kumar Sangwan and Mahender Singh contributed with 3 tackle points apiece, while Jasmer Gulia chipped in with 2 tackle points.
The Thalaivas', on the other hand, though losing the match, have had significant positives from the encounter.
Along with the starting 7, four other players got the opportunity off the substitution bench, and this rotation helped a few of the players make a case for themselves to be included in the starting 7.
The two all-outs in the first half of the match made it difficult for the Thalaivas' to come back and win the game, but they still managed to fight back from 7-21 to finish the game at 35-44.
Jasvir Singh and Athul MS were dropped from the starting line-up and Surjeet Singh and Sukesh Hegde given an opportunity. But, both Surjeet and Sukesh failed to take advantage of this opportunity and ended with 3 and 2 points respectively, while Athul MS coming off the bench scored 6 raid points from his 8 attempted raids. Meanwhile, Ajay Thakur continued to be the Thalaivas top raider with 9 raid points.
The defence of the Thalaivas was again found lacking, but they may have found a defender who could improve their performance in the form of D.Gopu who came on as a substitute and scored 3 tackle points, including a super-tackle.
Manjeet Chhillar contributed with 3 tackle points, while Amit Hooda and Sunil scored 2 tackle points apiece.
The Thalaivas next take on the Puneri Paltan on Tuesday, the 23rd as part of Inter-Zone Challenge Week, while the Bulls will also feature against the Puneri Paltan on Sunday, the 21st of October.