PKL 2019 | Haryana Steelers’ Super Tackles changed match, believes Fazel Atrachali
PKL
U Mumba skipper Fazel Atrachali believes that Haryana Steelers' Super Tackles in the second half of the game was the turning point as it helped the Steelers avoid the all-out. This was U Mumba fifth loss of the season due to which they are now in sixth place on the points table.
U Mumba suffered an early all-out because of which they found themselves lagging behind Haryana Steelers by a six point margin by the time the first half ended. They did well to recover in the second half which was powered by the determined raiders but they were unable to shake down the Haryana Steelers defence in time to gain the lead. Haryana’s defenders were able to come up with two Super Tackles which not only helped them maintain the lead but also avoid the all-out.Â
“I think the Super Tackles that Haryana Steelers made was most important in the game and I think that changed the match because we had one mistake, but we came back,” U Mumba skipper Fazel Atrachali said in the post-match press conference.
Even though he was not picked in the starting seven due to an injury, Abhishek Singh was the highest scorer for U Mumba with six points as far as the raiding department was concerned. Though apart from him none of the other raiders were able to make an impact. Arjun Deshwal and Athul MS were only able to score 6 points combined whereas their last match highest scorer, Rohit Baliyan failed to score any points.
“Yes, Abhishek absolutely deserves more chances to raid but he was slightly injured, which is why we opted to stick to our winning combination in offence from the last match. When we saw that our starting raiders weren’t performing, we decided to put Abhishek in and he performed well,” coach Sanjeev Kumar said on being asked if Abhishek should raid more.Â
Although the defence was considerably better from previous matches as evident by the number of successful tackles, they weren’t able to close the deficit that was created in the first half. They will hope to improve their performance against the home team in their next match hoping the home team track record in this season so far goes their way.
“If you see how the home teams have performed this season then it’s’ clear that they don’t necessarily have any advantage. If you see how the home side’s have performed so far, you’ll see that it’s just U Mumba that has won two at home so far. Apart from us, no one else has managed to do that. Teams have managed to either win just one game or none at all at home this season. The most important thing to remember is that there are no strong or weak teams in this league. Whoever deals with the situations on the mat better during the match is generally the winner,” coach Sanjeev signed off.
