Bengaluru Bulls 45-28 Tamil Thalaivas, Pro Kabaddi 2022 Highlights: Bharat, Vikash Kandola give Bulls big one-sided win

Welcome to the live coverage of the 2nd fixture of 19th October of the Pro Kabaddi League 2022 between Bengaluru Bulls and Tamil Thalaivas at the Shree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Scores BEN v TAM:

THAT’S THAT. Bulls return to winning ways with a 17-point win over Tamil Thalaivas. Much to ponder for Thalaivas as they fall to 10th in the points table.

45-28 Mahender stops Ajinkya Pawar in his tracks.

44-28 Visvanath brings down Bharat

44-27 Ajinkya Pawar has a bonus to his name

44-26 ALL ABOUT THE BULLS and Vikash Kandola is the beneficiary. M Abishek the man who is out.

43-26 With Vikash stepping up in raid, Bharat chips in for the Buls defense as he helps bring down HImanshu Singh. Vikash follows that with a bonus. Saurabh Nandal then takes out Narender with a lot of help from his teammates.

40-26 Is this the game for the Bulls? 14 POINT LEAD. Vikash Kandola cleans up the remaining players on the mat.

36-26 Himanshu Singh has a bonus

36-25 The lead goes into double digits thanks to some very lazy defending from Thalaivas. Sagar, out with a kick and then Visvanath’s failed dash gives Viokash his second point

Uday Kumar tells his boys that five minutes remain and asks his team to focus on getting the all out.

34-25 Narender is brought down by Aman as the teams head into a timeout. This is getting out of hand for Thalaivas.

33-25 Tamil Thalaivas are crawling back little by little and they dash Bharat out to manage the same. But it turns out it’s one point each. Sagar reviews to save his defender. YIKES. REVIEW UNSUCCESSFUL. The review finds two defenders out.

31-24 Double thigh hold on Himanshu from Aman. Sturdy defending.

The lead is down to six points again. Seven minutes left in this game.

30-24 Himanshu Singh takes out Bharat and then Visvanath takes down Neeraj Narwal much to the disappointment of the crowd

30-22 Saurabh Nandal gets revenge for the Bulls by bringing Ashish down in the very next raid. Grudge match this!

29-21 As Bharat tries to pick a point from the right corner, Ashish looks like he has a war cry on his lips as he dashes Bharat out

29-20 Narender gets a bonus at the other end

29-19 Bharat is using the lobbies brilliantly here. He gets a big running hand touch on Sahil Gulia, M. Abishek

27-19 Narender takes out Saurabh Nandal

27-18 SECOND ALL OUT INFLICTED BY THE BULLS. Neeraj Narwal takes Himanshu Singh down. Hapless this side is looking.

23-17 Bharat is no Vikash Kandola. He is tackled but he puts his hand out and he has two points. Insane reach he has. Ashish gone, Visvanath gone.

22-17 Bonus for Tamil Thalaivas

22-16 SUPER TACKLE. Vikash Kandola is brought down by Ashish. Wrestling move. Almost a solo tackle. Beautiful to watch from th Thalaivas!

22-14 Bonus for the Thalaivas

22-13 This lead is extending as Bharat gets a touch on Himanshu

21-13 Oh gifted here, Bharat sends Sahil Gulia out of the mat. Too easy.

20-13 Himanshu Singh gets a bonus point. Seven points the deficit now.

20-12 Bharat, without breaking a sweat, takes out Sagar who is just watching the raider come for him.

19-12 Mahender goes for Narender’s legs, but the youngsters jumps over. However, he can’t escape a dash coming in from the right.

HALFTIME: 18-12 in favour of the Bulls. Bengaluru’s defense slept through the first half of this first half and it was all about the raiders. But towards the 10th minute, we’ve seen Saurabh Nandal come into the mix. Thalaivas have made more errors and have seen Himanshu Singh have a quiet start after his heroics in the last game. A six-point lead is nothing given there’s one whole half to play on, but THalaivas have to be smart about their strategy if they want to give this high-on-confidence Bulls unit a fright.

18-12 It seems like Visvanath took a few seconds too long and falls in a do-or-die raid to bring the curtains down in the first half. Six point lead for the Bulls.

17-12 Neeraj Narwal gets a bonus for the Bulls

16-12 LEAK. Aman, Mayur Kadam fall to Himanshu Singh close to the midline. Oh to be a fly on the wall in that Bulls dugout area. Wonder what Randhir Sehrawat is saying!

16-10 Tamil Thalaivas have done so well to bring down Bharat. Narender brings down Bharat and the Bulls raider is struggling and his hand can reach the midline but Sagar tucks that arm in. Clinical!

16-9 Narender makes taking bonuses look very easy.

16-8 Thalaivas’ defender, looked like Visvanath, is forced out of the mat.

15-8 Bharat took out Abhishek but Saurabh Nandal follows that by making a rare error. He goes for the advance tackle and Narender takes him to the midline

14-7 Narender keeps chipping away. Has a bonus to his name

14-6 FEROCIOUS DASH. Thalaivas push out Vikash Kandola. There was contention about whether a defender was also out but nope. Bulls will save their review, good job.

14-5 Bulls are running away with this, Vikash Kandola catches the left corner sleeping. Running hand touch on Sahil Gulia

13-5 Saurabh Nandal makes his presence felt as he gets an ankle hold on Visvanath and turns him the wrong way

12-5 Bengaluru has its first tackle point of the evening as Narender gets his positioning all wrong near the right cover region.

11-5 Bharat has found a way to shut the Thalaivas up. He has M. Abishek, K. Abhimanyu and Visvanath V for A SUPER RAID and FIVE POINTS FOR THE BULLS. ALL OUT INFLICTED.

6-4 DEADLY SUPER TACKLE from Tamil Thalaivas. Referees are discussing if they need to award the super tackle or if the raider ran into the lobby before that. ONLY ONE POINT IS GIVEN. Oh hold on. This is deliberated on again! And the super tackle is awarded.

6-2 Bharat uses the lobby and gets Himanshu with a running hand touch.

5-2 Vikash Kandola gets a point of Sahil Gulia. A forced error from the Thalaivas defender and Gulia is on his knees.

4-2 Narender comes in on a do-or-die raid and gets a bonus

4-1 Neeraj Narwal has two points thanks to a slippery ankle hold in the right corner and a failed dash. Sagar, Aashish on the bench

2-1 Bonus for Tamil Thalaivas and Visvanath is the man but the referee then says no bonus. We don’t have the luxury of watching the replay

2-1 Neeraj Narwal sends Abishek to the bench

1-1 Narender is off the mark and he takes out Bharat and heads back with a huff. Channeling his inner Bull to handle the opponents is he?

1-0 Vikash Kandola induces a self out from the left corner. Momentum going against the Thalaivas

Toss: Tamil Thalaivas won the toss and Bengaluru Bulls will raid first

Mayur Kadam is back! Well well well. He has not been the best cookie in defense for the Bengaluru Bulls and it will be interesting to try and understand the reasoning behind bringing him back into the starting 7.

8:15pm IST: LINEUPS:

Bengaluru Bulls: Vikash Kandola, Mayur Kadam, Mahender Singh, Bharat, Neeraj Narwal, Saurabh Nandal, Aman

Tamil Thalaivas: Narender, M Abishek, Aashish, Himanshu Singh, Visvanath V, Sagar, Sahil Gulia

After a good start to the season that saw them win their first two games, Bengaluru Bulls lost their last two matches and will be eager to return to winning ways. Most of the responsibility will fall on the shoulders of Vikash Kandola and Bharat as they have been the team’s standout raiders so far. Kandola has been their best player in offence with 35 raid points, while Bharat has managed 34 raid points in Season 9. As far as the defence goes, Saurabh Nandal has been the team’s go-to tackler with 12 tackle points, while the likes of Aman (10 tackle points) and Mahender Singh (7 tackle points) have also had an impact.

Tamil Thalaivas, meanwhile, will be confident in their ability after picking up their first win of the season last time around. Narender has been a revelation for the Thalaivas this season and is their lead raider at the moment having amassed 37 raid points in four games. He will be supported by Himanshu Singh, whose game-changing 11 raid points as a substitute in Tamil Thalaivas’ last game helped them register their first win of the campaign. Talking about their defence, skipper Sagar has been one of their top tacklers with 11 tackle points in Season 9. Sahil Gulia has also contributed 11 tackle points for the Thalaivas so far, while M. Abishek is their next best defender with six tackle points.