The wait was finally over as the Indian Polo Season had already marched to reach the national capital. Inaugurating the season was the 8 goal Bhopal Pataudi Cup. Eight teams divided into two pools went against one another for an entire week of close battle. After which the finale was to be played right on 17th October 2021 to witness which team will take the trophy home.
12th October 2021 | DELHI
The first day of the tournament witnessed three matches at AEC, New Delhi.
With the first match played between Jindal Panther and Achievers DB Realty, it was a close call. Definitely, it was hard to determine which team shall seize the day today. Chukkers after chukkers, the scores remained the same and when we thought that the game might walk straight into an extra chukker, the umpires called out for penalty in favor of Achievers DB Realty. Grabbing the opportunity for the same, Daniel Otamendi bagged the winning goal for the team and brought victory with 6 goals to 5.
The other two matches off the day were scheduled simultaneously at two different grounds, AEC I & AEC II with Col Girdhari Singh/ASC against Kara Polo-Cavalry and Aravali Polo against Sujan respectively.
The match played between Col Girdhari Singh/ASC vs Kara Polo-Cavalry started with the first team at an advantage of 0.5 goals. The intensity of the game was undoubtedly high, so much so that the defence play was at its absolute best. Both the teams made all attempts to save the goals of their opponents. But one of the two had to win and today the victory fell in fate of Kara Polo-Cavalry with 5 goals to 4.5
Meanwhile, Sujan and Aravali Polo went neck to neck. It was no longer that the match had kicked off that Sujan started to take an immense amount of lead in the play. During the second chukker, the speculations got higher that the team shall seize the day, but Polo isn’t a place of predictions. Anything can change in the next few seconds and so it did. Aravali Polo outperformed Sujan and came out victorious with 6 goals to 5.
13th October 2021 | Bhopal Pataudi Cup | DELHI
Into the second day of the 8 goal Bhopal Pataudi Cup and the tournament witnessed another match at Jaipur Polo Ground, New Delhi between Sona Polo and Rajnigandha Achievers.
Both the teams startled the field with some enormous talent and it was finally time to let the curtains unveil the fate of the day.
As the match started off, Sona Polo started to take grip of the match in the early seconds, but Rajnigandha Achievers made sure to keep the scoreboard at a similar pace. This to and forth of lead was maintained for quite some time, soon after which, Sona Polo decided to tighten the reins into the match.
With an excellent team and control, the team collectively was able to defeat Rajnigandha Achievers with a score of 6 goals and 4.
14th October 2021 | Bhopal Pataudi Cup | DELHI
The day marked a long day of Polo with four matches scheduled back to back.
The last league day of the match was one action packed day. With all the participant teams coming down to the field to go against one another to qualify for the semi-finals.
Starting off the day were teams Col Girdhari Singh/ASC and Achievers DB Realty. Keeping the pace neck to neck for the beginning chukkers, it was difficult to tell as to which team has overpower another. But as the clock clicked, Achievers DB Realty ended up capturing the victory with 9 goals to 4.5
The second match had Jindal Panther against Kara Polo-Cavalry. Until the last second of the match it was impossible to determine the fate of this match. Both the teams managed to keep an equal score throughout. It was in the last few seconds of the last chukker that Kara Polo-Cavalry as a team had put in all efforts for the winning goal. With this, they had victory for themselves with 7 goals to 6 defeating Jindal Panther.
Later in the day, the third match began with Rajnigandha Achievers against Aravali Polo. This match was very much similar to that of the first game. The first half of the game, both the teams kept the scores equal to one another, but yet again it was in the other half that Rajnigandha Achievers took the lead to close the match at 7 goals to 4.
The last match of the day was set between Sujan and Sona Polo. Undoubtedly the teams put in their best game forward. It was hard to predict the winners of this game but as the chukkers went by, it became clear that Sujan is all in to be announced as winners with 8 goals to 6.
16th October 2021 | Bhopal Pataudi Cup | DELHI
The semi-finals of the 8 goal Bhopal Pataudi Cup could have been not more exciting than this. What tough battles, close calls, attacks and defense- everything and every player just on mark, giving out their best. But as the design is- two of the teams had to qualify for the finale while the rest two had to close the journey of this cup here itself.
Commencing the first semi-finale of the day was team Aravali Polo and Achievers DB Realty. Who would seize the position as the first finalist was certainly hard to say. Looking at the trajectory of the performances that these teams have showcased in the league matches so far, it was definitely going to be a tough call. And so it was. The teams did not stop from making the moves hard for the opponents. Keeping the scoreboard close to one another, both the teams maintained a neck to neck score throughout. It was although in the last chukker that the picture started to drift away from the foggy clues. Team Achievers DB Realty grabbed victory with 6 goals to 4.
For the second semi-finale, we had Kara Polo-Cavalry and Rajnigandha Achievers opposite one another. What should not be left unsaid is the immense amount of support and cheering that Kara Polo-Cavalry had at their camp. Every move in favor of the team would sharply fill the entire polo ground with the cheers of joy from their end and probably that’s where the magic happened. While Rajnigandha Achievers were playing strong and in lead for the first half of the match- Kara Polo-Cavalry made a massive comeback into the play in the later part. So much so that, at one point Kara Polo-Cavalry were leading by 4 goals against their opponent team. With the spirit of the players and the cheers of support, the team qualified for the finale of the 8 goal Bhopal Pataudi Cup with a brilliant score of 9 goals against 7.
17th October 2021 | Bhopal Pataudi Cup | DELHI
The finals of the 8 goal Bhopal Pataudi Cup was to be played on 17th October 2021 at 4:30pm, Jaipur Polo Ground, New Delhi.
But as fate might have it, the finale was called off due to heavy rainfall and both the teams, Kara Polo-Cavalry and Achievers DB Realty, were announced as joint winners of the tournament.
