Bulls ride high on Rohit Kumar’s brilliance to beat Titans

Match 6 was Telugu Titans’ third match of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 5 and after a defeat in the last match against Patna Pirates, they were hoping to return to winning ways against Bengaluru Bulls at Hyderabad’s Gachibowli Indoor Stadium on Sunday. The Bulls, on the other hand, with the youngest squad in the season wanted to start off their 2017 campaign with a win. Rahul Chaudhari and Rohit Kumar, the two captains, had the spotlight on them.

Rohit won the toss and got the chance to choose the court. ‘Raid Machine’ Rahul Chaudhari started the raid bid for Telugu Titans, while Ajay Kumar went for Bengaluru Bulls, but both the raids ended empty. The first point of the match was won by Titans’ Vikas through his raid. In the 3rd minute, the most awaited moment of the match occurred when Chaudhari got a successful raid and reached the mega milestone of becoming the first player to complete 500 raid points in VIVO Pro Kabaddi history.

Bengaluru opened their account through Ajay’s bonus point. The 5th minute saw the first review of the match and also the first do-or-die raid, where Telugu Titans failed to get a point. The first ‘All Out’ of the match happened in the 12th minute, where the lone Telugu Titans raider was pushed off the mat. Bengaluru Bulls took a time-out just at the stroke of half-time and ended the half with a lead of 5 points at 10-15.

Rohit again led the raid department for the Bulls in the second half and managed a bonus point. A series of do-or-die raids followed in the next 10 minutes and this period saw Rohit complete his ‘Super 10’. However, the moment that really tilted the match in Bengaluru’s favour came in the 37th minute when Ajay managed to pull off a Super Raid. The second ‘All Out’ for Telugu Titans happened in the 38th minute and the match eventually ended in the Bulls’ favour 31-21.

Telugu Titans will now face debutants U.P. Yoddha in their next match at Hyderabad on Tuesday, while the inspired Bengaluru Bulls will meet another debutant Tamil Thalaivas at Nagpur on Friday.