PKL 2019 | Naveen Kumar’s one year journey - from NYP to Dabang Delhi’s star raider
PKL
In Kabaddi, like almost every other sport, we have players who are special and they make their mark from the word go. However, in a sport as tough as kabaddi, there are only a few who are able to cement their legacy and the most important quality required to pull that off is consistency.
When it comes to players leaving a mark in PKL last season, we mostly talked about Siddharth Desai or Pawan Sehrawat. Desai, a 26-year-old making his debut in the league, took the world by storm by scoring Super 10s at a rate that we had only seen Pardeep Narwal do. This year, however, he has struggled to recreate the same form in Hyderabad and questions are now being asked about his actual quality. While it was him, and Pawan, that stoled the limelight, most people failed to notice one young guy who was making his debut in the season and played an instrumental role in guiding Delhi into the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
Naveen, a then 18-year-old, was roped in by Dabang Delhi KC in season 6 and even Delhi would have been surprised when the teenager ended the season with an astonishing 172 raid points from just 22 games. But with Desai, Pardeep, and Pawan outscoring some teams on their own, Naveen's performances went overshadowed. Come 2019, though, it is a completely different story. While Pardeep and Pawan are still leading the charge as far as numbers are concerned, the Kabbadi watching world have their sights set on Delhi.
Naveen was retained by coach Krishan Kumar Hooda and co and he has vindicated the decision with some amazing and consistent performances on the mat. In a season that has been dominated by defenders, even Pawan has had off days. But not Naveen - unless you consider seven raid points a bad day. It is not just what he is able to do with the physical gifts that he possesses that makes him special but rather his game-awareness that earns him a place alongside some of the very best in the league. He hardly takes undue risks that many experienced raiders tend to take which sees them end up on the bench for extended periods of the game. Leading a Delhi team that depends on him as far as points scored across the line are concerned, Naveen has an astonishing not-out percentage of 92.79 which allows him to play the game at his pace.
In an exclusive interview, a delighted Naveen Kumar acknowledged that coach Krishan Kumar Hooda’s backing and the support of the team has helped him do well in the second consecutive season for the Delhi unit.
“I am feeling really happy with my performance. The coach has backed me and the team has supported me as well so it's good to contribute to the team’s win. The team is at the top so I am feeling really happy,” Naveen told SportsCafe.
“As I was an NYP (New Young Player) last year, it was finalised in the pre-season that I will play for Delhi this year as well. I was really happy that the team trusted me enough and allow me to play and I felt really happy to be associated with Delhi again. All the senior and Indian players have been helping me a lot since last season.”
Knowing that he will be playing alongside almost the same set of players with whom he went on to the mat last year, Naveen was mentally prepared to give his best for the Delhi team again. Speaking more about his preparations for the seventh season, the Bhiwani lad said that he tried to eliminate the mistakes those were committed in the previous edition of the PKL.
 © PKL“We have prepared really well. Our trainer made us do running, handwork and footwork. We also focused on last season’s mistakes and so evidently our team is doing well and playing like a unit and this is the result of all the hard work that we did,” explained the 19-year-old raider.
“I think about taking the team forward and in my mind, I think about where to get the point from and not while going for a raid. As this a team game you have to play for the team and when it comes to preparing for the season, a raider has to focus on fitness and you have to focus on improving your skills and you have to take care of what you eat and you to keep practising for the future.”Â
Explaining the role of the coach and the skipper, he said, “It (Joginder and Krishan Hooda’s tips) helps a lot for me as my game has improved a lot. As a coach, Hooda sir keeps telling me about my mistakes and what I did right and he tells us how to tackle and improve my raiding. The improvement in my game is because of him.”
The raiding duo of Chandran Ranjit and Naveen is doing wonders for the Delhi team and the side which have three senior defenders in the form of Joginder Narwal, Ravinder Pahal and Vishal Mane, depends on the two newcomers to bail them out of trouble through their raids. Naveen is has built up a great partnership with Ranjit who has turned out to be the second-best raider in the side.
“It (partnership with Ranjit) is going really well as we were together last season as well and we did a good job. We both understand each other in terms of what to do when. When we have to go for points or how many players are left or otherwise. Also, the coach keeps instructing and guiding us and we go according to that. Other senior players are also helping us in this. When he is out of the mat I help in his revival and he does the same with me and as Kabaddi is a tough game so we have to work with each other and only if everyone supports each other then the team will go forward,” said Naveen.
When asked about the not-out percentage this season and the habit of not getting tackled this season, a humble Naveen replied, “I don’t know about not out but when you playing for the team you hope to get a point in every raid so you have to do safe raids as well. So, I play according to what the team needs at the time of the raids.”
Now with someone like Siddharth Desai not doing that well and a raider like Nitin Tomar missing out on the first three legs of the tournament, the focus is on Naveen. People are talking about him and he is not just a New Young Player (NYP) from the Futures Programme, he is a star of the team. But, he is always shy of talking about his own performance and wants to keep contributing to the team. “They are good raiders (Siddharth Desai and Pawan Sehrawat) and had put up a solid performance in the previous season,” the raider mentioned. “Our team is also good for the tournament. The one who makes mistakes stay behind and from here on I will try to minimise the errors and take the team forward.”
“It’s a game so you lose some and you win some so we are going to keep playing the way we are currently playing. We will focus on working on the mistakes we have made and in the future try and rectify those and we will proceed in the campaign,” the youngster, who idolises Ajay Thakur, concluded.
