PKL5 Match 6 report: Telugu Titans 21-31 Bengaluru Bulls

Date: 30th July
Time: 9PM IST (4:30PM BST)
Venue: Gachibowli Indoor Stadium, Hyderabad
Zone: B

Line-ups

Telugu Titans: Vishal Bhardwaj, Rahul Chaudhari (C), Rohit Rana, Nilesh Salunke, Farhad Milaghardan (✈️), Vikas, Rakesh Kumar.
Subs used: Mohsen Maghsoudlou (✈️).

Bengaluru Bulls: Ashish Kumar, Rohit Kumar (C), Ajay Kumar, Ravinder Pahal, Gurvinder Singh, Mahender Singh, Sachin Kumar.
Subs used: Amit Sheoran, Preetam Chillar.

Match Report

The Bengaluru Bulls started the game off really well with Rohit Kumar picking up points right from the start, picking up two points at a time in consecutive raids, including a dupki (diving under the tackle) on Rakesh Kumar. Telugu Titans were immediately on the back foot with the defence just not working and the Bulls secured the first all out in just 11 minutes, the scores in favour of the Bulls 5-12.

Nilesh Salunke for the Titans picked up a couple of points, but so too did Ajay Kumar for the Bulls, the half time score was 10-15 to Bengaluru. In the second half Ajay and Rohit for the Bulls and Rahul for the Titans took turns to pick up points slowly as it was a game for the raiders rather than the defenders.

With just 5 minutes to go the scores were 17-24 to the Bulls, but then Rahul was tackled by the Bulls successfully and then Ajay Kumar scored a 3 point raid by getting his foot just over the line in time. The Titans were knocked down to just one person and Bengaluru secured the all out to take the score 19-31 in favour of the Bulls.

With very little time left the Telugu Titans were well beaten and the final score was 21-31 to Bengaluru Bulls.

Star Players

  • No doubt the best raider was Rohit Kumar for Bengaluru Bulls who picked up a huge 12 points, he was impressive throughout and picked up points when it mattered! He was backed up fantastically by Ajay Kumar who picked up 7 points himself, with 3 coming in a crucial super raid.
  • In defence Ravinder Pahal and Mahender Singh both picked up 3 tackle points for the Bulls, and Rakesh Kumar picked up 3 tackles for the Titan’s defence.
  • Although Rahul had a poor game he still managed to pick up 4 raid points, as did Iranian Mohsen Maghsoudlou, both for Telugu Titans.

Match Prediction

Prediction: Telugu Titans 40-25 Bengaluru Bulls
Actual result: Telugu Titans 21-31 Bengaluru Bulls

Not even close… totally underestimated Bengaluru Bulls.

In the future…

Another loss for Telugu Titans will have their heads scratching about how they can turn this around, Rahul Chaudhari had yet another bad game and perhaps its time to lessen the burden by giving the captaincy to someone like Rakesh Kumar. The defence needs a bit of work with Iranian Farhad Milaghardan and Rohit Rana performing badly in the cover positions.

For the Bulls Rohit Kumar excelled in the raiding department and was backed up nicely by Ajay Kumar, if they can keep this up then they will have a chance to win many more games. The defence wasn’t tested to the maximum so we’ll wait to pass judgement on the defence yet, but they did perform in unison and supported well.

Both of these teams will be challenging the top 3 places in order to make the play offs, but Telugu have work to do.