PKL 2019 | Every match now is do-or-die game for us, says Vishal Bhardwaj

This match was definitely a defence dominated one as we witnessed eight Super Tackles in the whole match. The raiding department of both sides collectively scored only 15 points. Telugu Titans started strong as in the first raid Siddharth Desai ousted Jaipur Pink Panthers' left corner Sandeep Dhull and by around 10 minutes into the game, only three players of Jaipur Pink Panthers were left on the mat. Jaipur Pink Panthers avoided an all-out by inflicting four super tackles and also manage to get the lead of three points by the end of the first half. In the second half, however, Telugu Titans made a comeback with three super tackles of their own.

“Look today’s game was very good. Both teams played very well today and made a lot of tackles. Our coach told us that the game was a do-or-die match, every match now is a do-or-die game for us, and we’ll have to keep playing in the same manner to progress to the playoffs,” Vishal Bhardwaj said in the post-match press conference.

“Tackling doesn’t necessarily make you more active on the mat. Today belonged to the defence but whatever mistakes we committed during the game, we’ll try to rectify during practice.”

When Telugu were due for their last raid it was a do-or-die one and Jaipur were two points behind with only three players on the court. So, if the Telugu’s raider got super tackled then the match would have ended in a tie. Farhad Milaghardan went in for the last raid and in a hasty tackle attempt by Nitin Rawal, he managed to escape and get a point for his team so Telugu then won by three points.

“We were in a tough spot because it was a do-or-die raid, so we needed to check what our options were. We only made one plan and went with Farhad Milaghardan to go for the last raid because he has a chance since he’s a strong player and was successful,” Telugu Titans head coach Gholamreza Mazandarani revealed.

“He says he was certain he would succeed before going for the last raid and after he completed it successfully, he was sure he had done it. Even when it was being reviewed, he was certain that he was successful. Before he went for the raid, I told him ‘don’t worry, we'll win the match’ because they had been lucky in the last two matches and I felt it was our turn to be lucky,” Mazandarani said when asked about what was going through Farhad’s mind before the last raid.