Bengaluru Bulls’ +97: The Best Score Difference That Finished Third

The strangest line of the bengaluru bulls season 12 campaign sits in the score difference column. Bengaluru Bulls outscored their opponents by more than any other team in the league — a difference of +97, better than both finalists. They won 11 matches, collected 22 points, and finished third. No result explains the modern PKL points table better: score difference is powerful, but it is not points.

This post goes through Bengaluru’s numbers, explains what score difference actually does in the table, and shows why +97 could not lift the Bulls above two teams they outscored across the season. It closes with the club’s own finals history, because Bengaluru are not strangers to winning the matches that matter most.

Bengaluru Bulls Season 12 — Key Facts

• League finish: 3rd — reached the playoffs
• Record: 11 wins, 7 losses from 18 league matches
• Points: 22, under the Win = 2, Loss = 0 system
• Score difference: +97 — the best mark in Season 12
• Above them: Puneri Paltan (26 points, +88) and Dabang Delhi K.C. (26 points, +38)
• Last title: Season 6 — beat Gujarat Giants 38–33 in the final

The Top Three, Side by Side

Put the top three teams next to each other and Bengaluru’s problem is visible at a glance. The Bulls had the best difference of the three and the fewest points of the three.

Pos	Team	W	L	Score Diff	Pts
1	Puneri Paltan	13	5	+88	26
2	Dabang Delhi K.C.	13	5	+38	26
3	Bengaluru Bulls	11	7	+97	22

Pune’s difference of +88 decided first place, because Pune and Delhi were level on 26 points. Delhi’s +38, the weakest difference in the top three, still came with 26 points and a direct place in Qualifier 1. Bengaluru’s +97 sat below both, attached to 22 points. The column that settled the title race at the top did nothing for the team that led it. The full twelve-team table is on the PKL Points Table page.

Why +97 Was Not Enough

The rule is simple, and Season 12 applied it without mercy. Points rank the teams. Score difference only separates teams that are level on points. Bengaluru were not level with the top two — they were four points behind, which under the Win = 2, Loss = 0 system means two full wins behind. No margin column can close a two-win gap. The Bulls did not lose third place on a technicality; they lost it in the seven matches they did not win.

The pattern repeated all down the table, which is why Bengaluru’s case is the rule and not an exception. Three teams finished on 20 points — Telugu Titans, Haryana Steelers, and U Mumba — and difference ordered them fourth, fifth, and sixth. Three teams finished on 12 points at the bottom, and difference ordered them tenth, eleventh, and twelfth. Difference decided plenty in Season 12. It just never decided anything between teams on different points totals, and Bengaluru were on a different total from the two teams above them.

Does score difference earn extra points in the PKL?

No. Under the Season 12 points system, a win earned 2 points and a loss earned 0, whatever the margin. A one-point win and a thirty-point win were worth the same 2 points. Margin only feeds the score difference column, which acts as the tiebreaker between teams level on points. That is why Bengaluru’s +97, the best in the league, still left them third on 22 points.

Big Wins, Costly Losses

A difference of +97 across 18 matches tells its own story about how Bengaluru played. This was a team that won big. When the Bulls won, they tended to win heavily, piling margin into the tiebreaker column week after week. But the same column records the other truth of their season: seven defeats. In a Win = 2, Loss = 0 table, a heavy win banked the same points as a scrappy one, and every defeat banked nothing at all.

Compare the two teams above them. Pune won 13 matches with a difference of +88 — a slightly smaller margin spread across two more wins. Delhi won 13 matches with a difference of just +38, winning closer games and losing nothing like as often. Delhi’s season is the counter-argument to Bengaluru’s: in this system, winning often beats winning big. The Bulls’ route to the top two in a future season runs through the win column, not the margin column. Their club record and Season 13 status are tracked on the Bengaluru Bulls team page.

A Club That Knows How to Win a Final

Third place is not the ceiling this club knows. Bengaluru Bulls won the Pro Kabaddi League title in Season 6, beating Gujarat Giants 38–33 in the final. They had reached a final before that too, losing the Season 2 title match to U Mumba, 36–30. A championship and a runner-up finish give Bengaluru a finals pedigree that most clubs in the league cannot match.

That history is what makes the +97 season frustrating rather than alarming. The Bulls have won a title before and reached the playoffs again in Season 12 with the league’s best difference. The missing piece was not quality — it was two more wins somewhere in an 18-match league stage. Every final and champion in league history is listed on the PKL Winners List.

What Bengaluru Need in Season 13

The Season 13 target writes itself from the Season 12 numbers: turn two of those seven defeats into wins and the Bulls are level with the top of the table before difference is even consulted. Bengaluru’s Season 13 squad, fixtures, and venues are To Be Announced. The auction window is reported for 18–25 October 2026, the start is reported for late December 2026, and the final is reported for February 2027.

Bengaluru Bulls Season 12 — Frequently Asked Questions