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Saturday, January 5, 2019

Pro Kabaddi league ~ Bengaluru Bulls is the Champion : Pawankumar Sehrawat excels


Kabaddi is a lively game ~ much loved in Tamil Nadu – as in many parts of the Nation. 

The 6th Season of Pro-kabaddi 2018 got off to a great start in October.  The defending champions wer Patna Pirates, who had defeated the Gujarat Fortune Giants in the 2017 Pro Kabaddi League Final.  Earlier, a total number of 181 players were bought by 12 franchises in the Pro Kabaddi League auction held in Mumbai on 30 and 31 May. And after two days of non-stop action, a total of Rs 45.93 crore was spent by the teams, who at the start of the auction had a budget of Rs 4 crore each.   For the time in PKL history, players were bid for over Rs 1 crore. As many as six players – including 5 Indians and 1 Iranian – were were bagged for over a crore.

Pro Kabaddi Season 6 got off to a superb start as Tamil Thalaivas displayed aggressive kabaddi in the opening game to take out defending champions Patna Pirates 42-26 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai. Captain Ajay Thakur scored an impressive 14 points to lead Tamil thalaivas to their first victory at home while Amit Hooda kept opposition captain Pardeep Narwal from running away with the game and scored 4 tackle points in the process.

For the uninformed, in this league of Kabaddi, each team must have a minimum of 10 (ten) Players and a maximum of 12 (twelve) Players in its match-day playing squad. 7 (seven) Players shall take the ground at a time and the remaining 3 (three) to 5 (five) Players shall be substitutes. Each team is mandatorily required to have 1 (one) overseas Player in their match-day playing squad.
Adake leaps

A couple of days prior to the inaugural match,   I had the pleasure of travelling with Bengaluru Bulls Team on a flight to Mumbai – could greet and speak  to Kashiling Adake and took some photos of the team .. ..  little did I realize that Pawankumar Sherawat would be the superstar of the tournament.
Bengaluru Bulls Team ~ 3rd from L Jasmeer Singh - 3rd from Right  Pawankumar Sehrawat 

The Finals is over .. .. Bengaluru Bulls won their maiden Pro Kabaddi title today (5.1.2019)  as they beat Gujarat Fortunegiants in a thrilling final of the sixth season. The Bulls made a brilliant comeback to beat Gujarat for the second consecutive time and lift the trophy.  It was  Pawan Kumar Sehrawat Show yet again, as an incredible second-half performance from the raider handed Bengaluru Bulls a 38-33 victory over Gujarat Fortunegiants in the Season 6 final at the Dome@NSCI SVP Stadium in Mumbai to give them their first-ever VIVO Pro Kabaddi title. Sehrawat scored at least a point in 16 of his final 17 raids of the match in what was a performance for the ages from the raider.  Bengaluru’s Pawan Sehrawat was the star of the night as he collected 22 points from 25 raids.   In the points table he tops the list : 24 matches 282 points; followed by Patna Pirate’s Pardeep Narwal 233 points in 21 matches & U Mumba’s Siddharth Sirish Desai, 221 in 21 matches.

Bengaluru started well, taking the first point of the tournament final clash. However, Gujarat gave a tough competition to take the lead, inflicting an all out in the first half. The match began on a strong note as both the sides kept the game level at 3-3, before taking it to 7-7.  Sachin got a Super 10 and Gujarat were in the contention of the title till the final few minutes but fell short in front of Sehrawat. Prapanjan made a two-point raid to inflict an all out on Bengaluru Bulls, helping Gujarat go into the half-time with 16-9 lead.

The match turned to its peak when the two teams were level at 29-29 with just three minutes left for the final whistle before the Bulls inflicted another all out to win the match by five points.  Those dying moments were indeed nerve-wracking but Bengaluru Bulls kept their cool and increased their lead. 

Statistics of todays match : 
Bengaluru Bulls –: Best Raider: Pawan Kumar Sehrawat (22 Raid Points); Best Defender: Sumit Singh (2 Tackle Points)
Gujarat Fortunegiants –: Best Raider: Sachin (10 Raid Points); Best Defender: Sunil Kumar (4 Tackle Points)

With regards – S. Sampathkumar
5th Jan 2019 @ 11 pm.


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