In a match that was much closer than the scoreline suggests, Bengaluru Bulls lost on home mat to Gujarat Fortunegiants. The Bulls won the toss and chose the side they will play from. Things started on a great note as Gujarat raider Sachin was tackled out in the very first raid. This was followed by a successful raid from captain Rohit Kumar. Star player Pawan Kumar Sehrawat also had a successful raid as the Bulls established an early lead.
But things were going to turn towards the Gujarat team soon. After another successful raid by Rohit Kumar, his namesake from the other team, Rohit Gulia started the fightback by getting two points in a brilliant raid. However, he was soon eliminated when he made an equally weak foray into the opposition half.
But Rohit Kumar's luck turned as he was successfully tackled and the tide begin to turn. Bengaluru were now down to just three players and needed a super tackle to revive themselves. They did get that super raid when Sachin, who had a successful raid earlier in the match, got tackled.
It was noticeable that Rohit Kumar, who was looking the more dangerous raider was attacking the left corner in his raids. Sehrawat also tried to do the same and did get a point. But then disaster happened when during a Gujarat raid, two Bengaluru defenders in their left corner stepped out of the back line and were eliminated.
This brought the on-mat strength of the team down and soon the position got worse for the home team with Sehrawat getting tackled and Rohit Gulia reducing his opposing team to just one player on mat with another good raid.
Bengaluru were all out in the 14th minute and trailed 14-10. After this, Rohit Kumar persisted with his strategy to attack the left corner of his opposing team but got tackled out. Gujarat then went on a point-scoring spree as Sehrawat was tackled out again and eventually the first half ended with the score in favour of Fortunegiants 18-12.
The second half saw the hosts often reducing the gap to just three points but at crucial junctures, their star raiders failed to score points. The big problem for Bulls was the lack of form of Sehrawat. He got a successful raid to begin the second half but got tackled on the second attempt.
The gap was once down to just two points as Rohit Kumar got a point on his first raid of the second half and this was followed by Rohit Gulia getting eliminated. But the very next raid, extremely crucial, by Sehrawat, saw the Bengaluru star getting eliminated by Gujarat's defence. This was a key moment in the match.
There was another such juncture when the gap was reduced to two points but this time, the Bulls' captain Rohit Kumar failed to capitalize and got tackled out in the very next raid. The defence of Fortunegiants was holding up brilliantly.
With a three-point difference between the teams, the clincher for the Gujarat side came when Sachin scored two points in a raid and stretched the lead of his team with around two minutes to go. The score was now 27-22 and the match was in the grasp of Fortunegiants.
With both Sehrawat and Rohit Kumar failing to make an impact, Sumit Singh of Bulls was given the task of performing a miracle and he did have one successful raid with less than two minutes to go but failed on the next occasion. Eventually, the match ended with the score 32-23 in Gujarat's favour and Bulls had to settle for a loss in their opening home leg match of Pro Kabaddi League.
