PKL 2019 | Players playing without pressure of reaching playoffs worked in our favour, reckons Manpreet Singh
Gujarat Fortunegiants coach Manpreet Singh believes that playing without the pressure of winning and keeping up the bid for a playoff spot, worked well for his players. Super 10s from Sonu Jaglan and Rohit Gulia led the Fortunegiants to a dominant 50-21 victory over Tamil Thalaivas on Saturday.
When the side from Gujarat showed up at the Tau Devilal Sports Complex in Panchkula, it did not seem like they were a side who hadn’t won in six games. With only four games remaining, the likelihood of them making it to the playoffs was near impossible, and their coach Manpreet feels, that is what brought out a stellar all-round performance from his team.
“I feel the players have realised that qualifying for the playoffs may be a mountain too steep to climb. So instead of worrying about having to win and the pressure of qualifying, they were relaxed in their approach and played accordingly. They didn’t panic and showed their true ability,” Manpreet was quoted saying at the post-match press conference by the Pro Kabaddi official website.Â
“Today, the defence was excellent. They managed to contain V Ajith Kumar. The raiding duo of Sonu Jaglan and Rohit Gulia also performed exceedingly well. The all-round performance was stellar. It would have been nice had we performed so well five games ago, but better late than never,” Manpreet said.
Even with the win yesterday, the Fortunegiants are ten points behind sixth-placed U Mumba, with three games to go. However, Manpreet was not willing to throw in the towel just yet.Â
“There’s still three games to go. Hopefully, we can win all three. We will see what happens, we will continue fighting and won’t lose hope. We had a bad run of form and it could happen with anyone. So, if a team ends up losing a few, we have to make sure we capitalise on that situation,” Manpreet added.
