PKL 2019 | I am honing my skills for both tackling and raiding, says Sandeep Narwal
Twitter | U Mumba
Ahead of the seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League, Sandeep Narwal has stated that he is preparing well for both his roles as a defender as well as a raider. The U Mumba all-rounder has also mentioned that their team have one of the strongest defensive units among all other sides in the league.
Sandeep Narwal, who was with Puneri Paltan in the sixth season of the PKL, have made a journey of 150 kms this year to join U Mumba ahead of the seventh edition. The all-rounder, who was bought for a whopping 89 lakh rupees at the auctions in April, was mostly seen as a defender at the left corner of the mat in the previous year and hardly got a lot of chances to raid for the Paltan. However, ahead of the fresh season, he has stated that he is preparing well for both the roles and will do whatever the team want from him on the mat.
“The preparation is going on very well ahead of the start of the league. Our coach is helping us to train well be it the defence or sharpening our raiding department. He is helping us to find the loopholes in our game and improve on it through different sessions,” Sandeep told SportsCafe in an exclusive interview.
“Right now, I am honing my skills for both defence and raiding. So, if my team needs me to defend, I can and if they need me to raid at times, I can chip there for the team as well.”
U Mumba, under their new coach Sanjeev Kumar Baliyan, have started preparing for the tournament with a training camp in Nashik. With Fazel Atrachali, their last year’s skipper being from Iran, and Dong Geon Lee and Young Chang Ko from Korea, the team is working towards a proper understanding between all the players. And as per Sandeep, maintaining proper coordination in the side will not be a problem for U Mumba this year.
“We are having our team practice at the camp now. We are having a good understanding between us and are trying to know each other properly before the start of the season. So, coordination will not be a problem for us,” the all-rounder explained.
Sandeep is the first-choice right corner defender in the team and will have an aim to trouble the left-handed raiders from the oppositions during the league. He and Atrachali will form a deadly corner combination in the next season which might trouble most of the raiders in the league. The former Pune player has opined that the defence of U Mumba looks really strong ahead of the start of the tournament. The team also have players like Surender Singh and Rajguru Subramaniam from the sixth season of the league in the defence this time as well.
“The defence in the U Mumba team is very good. Apart from me and Fazel, there are players like Surender, Harender and others. This is a strong defensive side in the league. We also have some good raiders as well. We don’t want to say anything about the team and combination right now and will come up with the answers in due course of time.
“First our aim is to play together and play well. If the team does well and stays out of injuries then first we will try to make it to the top six and then the finals step by step,” Sandeep signed off.
