PKL 2018 | Change in team combination helped us in last few games, asserts Jagdish Kumble

12/01/2018

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Bengal Warriors coach Jagdish Kumble has underlined that the changes he made in the starting seven have worked well for the side and they have done well in the last few games. He has also hoped the team to continue playing like this to finish the pool stage at the top of the table in Zone B.

With three back-to-back wins, Bengal Warriors team is booming with confidence in the ongoing Pro Kabaddi League. The team from Kolkata has done well after trying out a new corner combination in their defence and they have also brought in a new face for their raiding department in the form of Ravindra Ramesh Kumawat. The three-match winning streak for the Warriors started with the game against Puneri Paltan where they defeated them by 26-22 points. Kumawat scored five points in that game and so far in the season, he has played three matches and has 13 raid points for his side.

Speaking exclusively to SportsCafe, the coach of Bengal mentioned about Kumawat’s inclusion and the idea behind dropping Shrikant Tewthia and trying out Baldev Singh at the right corner who has been successful so far as compared to Tewthia. Baldev has 13 tackle points from eight appearances out of which first few were the matches where he came in only as substitutes.

“In this league, limited teams are doing well in the defence. There are weaknesses in the defensive units of most of the teams. Some perform on a particular day and fail in the next game. We went with Shrikant in first few games and gave him chances as he was with us last season as well. We had to try out Baldev and it’s good for us that after first few games as a substitute, where he played well, now he finds himself in starting 7 and has done well for us. We expect him to continue like this in the upcoming matches for us,” Kumble told SportsCafe.

“We are trying with Ravindra Kumawat in the raiding department now and he his supporting Maninder really well. Kumawat replaced Lee and his consistency with the raids has allowed Maninder to play freely and that is why he is bringing more points for us. Maniinder’s form is very vital for us in upcoming games.”

The Bengal team looked very strong with their defensive unit in the first few matches of the tournament but now their skipper Surjeet Singh is not finding the much-needed rhythm that is needed for him as well as for Bengal defence. The right cover defender has only 31 tackle points to his name with an average of 2.23 per match. His strike rate is also a cause of concern for the Bengal team as it is only 38.15%. In last three wins for Bengal, Surjeet scored one, zero and four against Puneri Paltan and Bengaluru Bulls respectively. However, the Bengal coach mentioned Surjeet’s importance in the team both as a defender and a skipper and said that his role is bigger than the other players.

“Surjeet is a very important member in the team and not only as a defender, as the skipper, he understands the situation on the mat and tries to lead from the front. Coach has a role to play before the games and at the sidelines only during the timeout. So, if a captain doesn’t put up a good show, then there will be some pressure on the team. Ran Singh and other defenders are supporting him well and slowly he is coming back to form which is good for us,” the coach explained.

Bengal Warriors have played 13 matches in the season so far and are on the third position of the Zone B points table with 42 total points. They still have nine more matches to go and six of them will be played in Kolkata. According to the coach, the matches before the start of their home leg will be important as they will want to go into the last six matches with full confidence. They would definitely want to continue their three-match winning streak with one win against Pune and two consecutive victories against the Bulls in their adopted home venue.

“We have three games to play before our home leg and will try to win these three to get a place in the playoffs. If that goes well as per our plans, we can qualify easily for the next round and will have no more pressure in our home leg. This will help us to play freely and we can fancy our chances of finishing the pool at the top,” the Bengal coach concluded.

PKL 2018 | Change in team combination helped us in last few games, asserts Jagdish Kumble

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