Pro Kabaddi League | We tried to focus on our defence during auctions: Ram Mehar Singh

After winning three consecutive PKL titles, Patna Pirates failed to reach the play-offs in the sixth edition of the PKL last year. They had finished fourth on the Zone B points table with a total of 55 points from 22 games. Although the team had a solid raiding unit led by Pardeep Narwal, it lacked some experience in the defence which many consider as the reason for their poor show during the league stage.

“Surender Nada will find a place on the top five defenders of PKL. This is an important inclusion. He is an experienced player and has been a part of the league from the very first season.”

“Hadi Oshtorak and Esmail are two very good inclusions and both are good all-rounders from Iran. They can play at all positions. This will be a big plus point for the team,” explained the Patna coach.

“Jang Kun Lee is there, after Pardeep and there are 2-3 new players (in the raiding department) and we have faith on them. Lee has a very good reaction ability and flexibility which is unique to him. He has got good speed and fitness is better than many so we kept faith on him during the auctions.”

The Patna team was heavily dependent on Pardeep in the last edition in spite of the presence of raiders like Deepak Narwal and Manjeet. Apart from the skipper, no other player could contribute to the team’s success which led to their drop in the performance mid-way in the league last year. Although the team will not depend on him heavily this year because of some good signings, his performance will certainly affect the overall show of the Pirates in the seventh PKL. 

“If Pardeep goes out of the way and starts training then he can make the difference. He can even improve on his previous performances as well if he trains hard and trains in a different way. We need to be successful in bringing some changes in his training pattern and a lot will depend on that. That will give an opportunity to Pardeep and the Patna Pirates to better their performance from last seasons,” the experienced coach mentioned.

“Every year there is something new happening in the league and this is important for the sport and the players. The level of the sport is growing day by day which is a great thing to happen since the inception of the league,” the Patna coach expressed.

“This is a new generation and if they focus on their game and they have that excitement with them, they can do well than other senior players. New players are coming up in each edition, take an example of Siddharth Desai. Next year we might just see another new player making a mark in the league. Vikash Khandola was also brilliant in the last edition.”

Coach Ram Mehar has also informed that the team will have a training session in the next month keeping in mind the start of the season in July. However, they will go for a short break before starting their training in June again. With senior player Surender Nada, who was named the captain of Haryana Steelers last year but didn’t play after an injury in the first game, joining the team, it remains to be seen whether Pardeep will still continue being the captain for the 2019 edition of the league. 

“The league is yet to start and the camp hasn’t been organised as well. It is management’s decision and things will be clarified once the coaching session starts for the next edition. Captaincy is not an individual’s decision,” the Patna coach concluded.