After having lost to Gujarat, a day before, Jaipur desperately needed to pull up their socks to go deep into the tournament. They did address it in the neck of the time from the hands of Jasvir Singh, the nonchalant raider. If there was an award for the tournament, the most nonchalant raider in the entire tournament it should be given to him. With his momentum, Panthers won comfortably in the end 36-32 at final whistle.
Jasvir – The scorer amidst nonchalance
To be honest, the very first impression Jasvir gives you is that of careless attitude with his nonchalance. The way he raids it’s almost makes the audience feel how he can ever score a point on a raid.
Once he is triggered or gets his focus, he is a treat to watch his little daft and turns at the expense of defenders.
He entirely changed the momentum in the last minutes of the 2nd half, scoring a whopping 9 raid points in total, the highest in the match. The way he quarreled on the field with the opposition captain Anup Kumar, showed how much passion he has, the other side of him. The jubilancy of him when calling a successful review is a sight to behold and a great take away from the match in itself for our lives. He might not be the silkiest raiders, he might be a less appealing man in his looks, but he definitely has a heart of gold. He is a complete team man who would be the first name to appear on the team sheet.
First half to Second half – What changed?
At the end of 1st half, U Mumba were leading at 16-15 but lost the momentum while 2nd half began, from which they never recovered. During 1st half, Kashiling Adake contributed single handedly to Mumba and always kept them in the hunt. The reviews were a great drama to watch when it was called both successfully and unsuccessfully as the audience from either team cheered when declared.
Abhishek Bachchan, the owner of Panthers, was seen exhibiting a varied of emotions throughout the match. Mumba tackled well especially Tushar Patil, Jasvir Singh, Pawan Kumar to keep them quite till 1st half.
Jasvir started with an all out for Mumba to give Jaipur the lead and visibly Abhishek Bachchan was out of his seat. From there, the team took off and there was no looking back. Anup Kumar, the opposition skipper, rallied his team but everything fell short against the new found spirit of Jaipur led by Jasvir Singh. Jaipur have kept Adake super quite whenever he raided by tackling him skillfully which looks like a plan after his dominating 1st half.
One of the visible techniques from Jaipur defenders was pulling the back leg and turning the opponent over and then the heavy defenders pouncing on them. It worked really well throughout the 2nd half, even the skillful and smart raider like Anup could not escape the fate. Manjeet Chillar was so instrumental in Jaipur dominancy after Jasvir’s spirit which turned for them. Manjeet was swift, crafty, and cagey, who used his every bit of his body to defend as if it was personal to his pride. Good play by him ensuring the Jaipur had 36-32 at the end of the match. Jaipur Pink Panthers are on their way to playoffs.
Anup Kumar – Silenced or Not Good Enough?
As a visible admirer of Anup Kumar, he wasn’t at his best yesterday. There was something missing from him throughout the entire match except the way he rallied with his first point at 2nd half. He scored 6 points in total over the match including raids and defending which is less for his caliber. I hope he recovers from the mental drain he had and puts up a better show in the forthcoming matches. Seeing the scoreline at the end and watching the entire match, puts things into perspective how dominantly Jaipur won the game. One would ponder, whether a star player like Anup, was he silenced or was he not good enough on the day?
P.S: Taking nothing away from Jaipur’s credit.
