Pro Kabaddi League | Making a 'balanced team' was UP Yoddha’s focus at the auction
PKL
UP Yoddha coach Jasvir Singh has stated that the main focus of the team management during the auctions was to make a balanced team for the seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League. Jasvir also said that he has full faith on new recruit raider Monu Goyat ahead of the fresh season this year.
UP Yoddha had made a late entry into the playoffs in the sixth edition of the PKL. Rather we can call it in that way that the team made a backdoor entry and posed challenges to the other sides to make it into the final of the tournament in 2018-19. Led by Rishank Devadiga last year, the team had finished the league stage at the third place in Zone B with a total of 57 points from 22 games. They also managed to beat tough opponents U Mumba and Dabang Delhi KC in the first two playoff games before going down to Gujarat Fortunegiants in the virtual semi-final battle and getting knocked out.Â
Meanwhile, ahead of the seventh season, the team has signed star raider Monu Goyat for a whopping price of Rs 93 lakh. Goyat, who led Haryana Steelers in season 6 in the absence of Surender Nada, will be a vital cog in UP’s raiding department along with Devadiga and Shrikant Jadhav this season.
Speaking exclusively to SportsCafe, coach Jasvir Singh hoped Goyat to come good this season and also explained the reason for going after the former Haryana skipper during the auctions last month. The UP coach also said that the team’s main focus was to create a balanced unit at the auction and he is happy getting that.
“We have made a balanced team. Our defence was good last year as well and this time with Monu Goyat coming into the team, we have a good raiding unit as well. Our main focus at the auction was to make a balanced team with a strong raiding and defensive unit. And we got that in the auctions this year,” said Jasvir.
“Monu Goyat is a very good player as you saw in previous seasons. He had some injury issues in season 6 and that is why he couldn’t do well at the beginning of the season. But in the last 10 matches, he played really well last year. He got seven Super 10s in that period and we got him in our team on the basis of that performance only. We have full faith in him that he will do well for the team.”
The team also had a raiding trio in the 2018 edition with Devadiga leading the pack consisting Prashanth Rai and Jadhav. However, some injury concerns affected the team’s performance in the raiding department in the middle of the season. Skipper Devadiga wasn’t fully fit and so was Rai which was the reason for more dependence on Jadhav. Jasvir has mentioned that Devadiga knows that his performance was not up to the mark and the last year’s captain has worked hard to return stronger this time around.
“Shrikant’s (Jadhav) performance was really very good last year. Rishank (Devadiga) had an injury so he was unable to do well in the last season as compared to his achievements before that. We expect Rishank, who is fully fit this year, to do well for the team and for him also. He knew that he didn’t do well last time and is working hard for this year,” explained the UP Yoddha coach.
The team from Uttar Pradesh had the option of retaining right corner defender Nitesh Kumar via New Young Player (NYP) and there was no reason for them to leave him out. Nitesh was the only defender in the previous PKL to collect 100 tackle points and topped the list by a margin of 14 points. He is considered as the next big thing in Indian kabaddi and one of the emerging talents as far as defending is concerned.Â
Jasvir heaped praise on the right corner defender saying that he has all the required moves that a right corner defender should have. “Nitesh is a very good defender. He was the best in the league that we all saw last year. He is young and talented and has all the qualities. The required moves of a corner defender are all available with him especially the Thigh Hold,” Jasvir signed off.Â
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