PKL 2018 | Vishal Bhardwaj and Nilesh Salunke should be credited for the win, says Rahul Choudhary
Telugu Titans' Rahul Choudhary has credited his teammates Vishal Bhardwaj and Nilesh Salunke’s performance at the end of their match for their victory over Haryana Steelers. On the other hand, Telugu Titans’ assistant coach Sai Prasad pinned the credit on all-round performance from the team.
The Telugu Titans defeated Haryana Steelers 35-31 in a close encounter at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Vizag yesterday. A steady end game performance by the Titans stopped the clawback of the team from Haryana. A brilliant performance by Rahul Chaudhary gave the Titans 12 points which also made him the highest scorer for his team in the match. However, a major reason for the Titans' win was the fact that they were able to execute 5 Super Tackles in the match.
“The defenders were absolutely brilliant today. The last tackle that Vishal Bhardwaj committed to and then Nilesh Salunke’s Super Raid to follow it up won us the game. We were giving away points in the last five minutes till Bhardwaj’s Super Tackle. I think we should credit both of them equally because at one stage it was looking like Haryana Steelers were coming back really well,” said Rahul Chaudhary at the
Apart from Rahul Chaudhary, Nilesh Salunke gave the Titans seven crucial points and the points at the endgame proved priceless for the Titans. With time running out, Salunke had to go in for a do or die raid to secure the win for his side. He did just that has he was able to complete a Super Raid to seal the five points for his team.
“When I went in, I knew it was a Do-or-Die raid. I evaded their defenders once and I went back in again. I knew they would attempt a tackle because they needed that point. I was waiting for them to attack me so I could then try my best to go across the midline. Had I not tried, the game would have ended in a tie, so I had to go for it. We need to win all our games, so a tie wouldn’t have helped us. We will try our best to win all our games here on out as well,” said Nilesh Salunke.
With this win, the Telugu Titans came close threatening the defending champions who are at the second spot with 51 points off 17 games in the Zone-B points table. The Telugu Titans are now at the third spot with 44 points in 16 matches. On the other hand, all seems lost for the Haryana Steelers who are stranded at fifth spot with 39 points from 19 matches in the Zone-A points table. With only three matches remaining and only one spot remaining from zone-A Haryana Steelers are already out of the playoff race.
“We were excellent in both departments in the first half. Our defence didn’t quite work in the second half. Our players played in a systematic manner. They followed each and every strategy to the core. They acted as per the situation and went in to raid or tackle accordingly. A great example of this was the final raid of the day. If Nilesh Salunke hadn’t analysed the situation, the game would have ended in a tie,” said Assistant coach Sai Prasad.
