The Giants are off to an emphatic start as they came out on top against the defending champions, Bengaluru Bulls, at the Gachibowli indoor stadium in Hyderabad.
After failing to beat the Bulls last season, we put on a stellar all-round performance in front of the rapturous Hyderabad fans on Sunday. Our Giants were sharp and rarely looked out of sorts in both attack and defence.
The thumping win seemed to tick all the boxes, and here are the three takeaways from our first victory in Season 7.
Our defence at its lethal best
Before the much-anticipated clash began, it was deemed as the battle between our defence and Bengaluru’s attack.
From the first minute until the final whistle, our rock-solid defence led by our Captain fantastic, Sunil Kumar, wreaked havoc on Pawan Sehrawat and Rohit Kumar. Except the stunning super raid from Pawan in the 27th minute, our defence left the Bulls bamboozled by picking up tackle points at regular intervals.
The Sunil-Parvesh combination worked wonders and the duo was ably-supported by GB More and Sumit. After stopping one of the deadliest attacks this season, our defenders will be high on confidence in the forthcoming matches of VIVO Pro Kabaddi League Season 7.
Strong raiding support
Right from the first raid, Sachin Tanwar put pressure on the Bulls and that didn’t allow their defence to settle down at any point during the match.
Sonu Jaglan and GB More played a perfect supporting hand to Sachin by picking up raid points at crucial junctures, which in turn played a pivotal role in keeping Bengaluru’s star defenders off-mat for most part of the match. The all-round Rohit Gulia took 3 raid points and it would be a great benefit for us if he keeps up his good form.
There was a lot of dependency on Sachin in the previous two Seasons, and our Coach Manpreet Singh will be happy to see the other raiders taking more responsibility on their shoulders.
The bench strength
We showcased our bench strength in an incredible manner against the Bulls on Sunday. Sonu Jaglan came off the bench and his super raid in the 34th minute was one of the best moments of the match. Sonu took everyone by surprise with five raid points in his debut match, which proved key to inflicting Bengaluru’s third all-out in the closing stages.
The highly-rated Ruturaj Koravi picked up a good tackle point, and considering that we are going to see a lot of Abolfazl and Gurvinder in the upcoming matches, our strong bench strength is a huge positive for us going forward.