PKL 2019 | 5Ws and 1H – Bengaluru Bulls
PKL
With a few days to go for the seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League, defending champions Bengaluru Bulls will aim to start their campaign on a high. Led by Rohit Kumar and coached by Randhir Singh Sehrawat will start their campaign in PKL 7 on Day 1 against Patna Pirates.
How they performed in the last season?
The sixth season of the league for the Bulls proved to be the best season for the team from Karnataka. After failing to claim the title in the first five seasons of the tournament, the Bulls went into PKL 2018 with two coaches. They had the services of Ramesh along with Randhir who has been there in the team from the inception of PKL. Pawan Sehrawat was their go-to man in the raiding department with a total of amazing 271 points in the season.
With 78 points from 22 matches, the Bulls had topped Zone B. In the play-offs, they won against Gujarat Fortunegiants in the first qualifier to earn a direct qualification for the summit clash. In the final game, although the Gujarat side gave them a tough fight, it was another Pawan show that helped the Bulls claim the title by winning the final 38-33 against the Fortunegiants.
Who are the star players for the Bulls?
After going through the article, there will be no doubts that who is going to be the trump card for the team in the upcoming edition of the league. All eyes will be on Pawan and not only the management and the fans, the opponents will also have their attention on the raider from Haryana who turned out to be the star attraction of the league in 2018. Apart from Pawan, there will be a lot depending on Rohit Kumar as well who mostly played as a second raider last time around. The team will want the experienced man to step up to rescue the team as and when required during the seventh season of the PKL.
Bengaluru Bulls Squad:
Rohit Kumar, Pawan Kumar Sehrawat, Ashish Kumar, Amit Sheoran, Sumit Singh, Mohit Sehrawat, Banty, Mahender Singh, Vijay Kumar, Sanjay Shreshtha, Lal Mohar Yadav, Sandeep, Raju Lal Choudhary, Vinod Kumar, Aman, Ajay, Ankit
SportsCafe’s starting 7:
Raider - Pawan Sehrawat
Left in – Rohit Kumar (C)
Right in – Sumit Singh
Left corner – Amit Sheoran
Right corner – Raju Lal Choudhary
Left cover – Mahender Singh
Right cover – Ashish Sangwan
What is their strength?
As the team have two such raiders who have the ability and the skill to turn a particular game with individual performances, the biggest strength for the Bulls is their raiding department. Although Rohit was not that good with the raids last time around, he can star on the mat on his given day. The team had decided to retain both the raiders ahead of the auctions held in April earlier this year.
They also have a balanced defensive unit as well. At least in the first seven, they have four defenders for all the four positions who have played for the team last year. Amit Shoran and Raju Lal Choudhary can take care of the two corners while Mahender Singh and Ashish Sangwan form the perfect cover combination for the side. The management had used their Final Bid Match (FBM) card against Telugu Titans to get back left cover defender Mahender for Rs 80 lakhs and this shows the huge belief that the team have on the left cover defender before the league.
Where they can fall behind from other teams?
The reason for Bengaluru Bulls’ success in the previous season was the success of Pawan as their primary raider. He was sent in as a surprise in their first outing which worked well for the team. This also prompted the side to go on with him and the Haryana lad also delivered the goods for the team. However, the big question is whether Pawan can play with the same form this year? Whether he will have his mojo in the seventh season? And the biggest question, whether he can stay fit for the entire period of three months?
The Bulls had a good and experienced third raider, after Pawan and Rohit, in Kashiling Adake in the previous season. However, there will be a tremendous amount of pressure on the management if any one of Rohit and Pawan suffer an injury. They have a third raider in Sumit Singh but using him as a second raider, when any one of the two top raiders in injured, will need a lot of discussion among the Bengaluru thinktank.
Why one should support Bengaluru Bulls?
Starting from the initial phase of the league, Bengaluru Bulls is a side which always had some of the greats of the game. With an experienced captain like Rohit and an impact player like Pawan, who turned the last season’s final on his own, the supporters of the team will have a lot to cheer for. The runners-up from the second season of the league will want to try their best to defend the title this time around.
Another important reason for the kabaddi lovers to be happy is that after a gap of a couple of seasons, the home matches of the Bulls are set to come back to the Kanteerava Stadium in the Garden City this time around.
When they will play their games?
Bengaluru Bulls will start their campaign in the seventh edition of the league in the second game of the inaugural evening against three-time champions Patna Pirates. Their home leg will be held at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in the state capital of Karnataka from August 31 to September 6.
Schedule:
July 20 vs Patna Pirates in Hyderabad
July 21 vs Gujarat Fortunegiants in Hyderabad
July 28 vs U Mumba in Mumbai
August 3 vs Bengal Warriors in Patna
August 8 vs Telugu Titans in Patna
August 11 vs Haryana Steelers in Ahmedabad
August 12 vs UP Yoddha in Ahmedabad
August 17 vs Tamil Thalaivas in Chennai
August 21 vs Puneri Paltan in Chennai
August 24 vs Dabang Delhi in Delhi
August 25 vs Jaipur Pink Panthers in Delhi
August 31 vs Gujarat Fortunegiants in Bengaluru
September 1 vs Tamil Thalaivas in Bengaluru
September 4 vs Patna Pirates in Bengaluru
September 6 vs Telugu Titans in Bengaluru
September 13 vs Bengal Warriors in Kolkata
September 20 vs Puneri Paltan in Pune
September 23 vs Dabang Delhi in Jaipur
September 27 vs U Mumba in Jaipur
October 2 vs Haryana Steelers in Panchkula
October 4 vs Jaipur Pink Panthers in Panchkula
October 11 vs UP Yoddha in Noida
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