PKL 2019 | Had few lapses towards end, says BC Ramesh after Bengal’s loss against Haryana

Bengal Warriors had a tough time in the second half against Haryana Steelers and that led to their defeat on Monday. The Kolkata-based side, which had an upper edge in the first 20 minutes, failed to continue with the same form in the last few minutes and lost 33-36 against the Rakesh Kumar-coached team. Bengal coach BC Ramesh spoke about the errors by the Bengal outfit in the second half which, according to him, turned the game in Haryana’s favour.

“Towards the end of the match, we had a few lapses. Maninder Singh got caught against two defenders and then our defenders conceded more points, which contributed to the loss. Both our corner defenders didn’t perform very well today and that’s why I think we lost, Ramesh was quoted as saying by the PKL website.

With Maninder Singh being their top raider, Bengal also have players like K Prapanjan and Mohammad Nabibakhsh as the two support raiders. However, veteran Karnataka player Sukesh Hegde is also a part of the squad but with all the above three doing well, Hegde is hardly getting an opportunity to come on to the mat. Maninder and Prapanjan collected 15 and seven points respectively in the game while the Iranian had just two raid points against the Steelers. Coach Ramesh said that he didn't have the chance to bring in Hegde in the last game considering the performance of these three.

“We didn’t use Sukesh today because our three raiders were set and at least one of them were active on the mat almost throughout the game. I was thinking about the change and bringing him in but never had the opportunity because K. Prapanjan kept scoring, just like the others,” Ramesh mentioned.

“In the second half, against three, four or five defenders he (Prapanjan) struggled a bit. But he was outstanding in the first half.”