PKL 2019 | Didn’t expect to beat home team in emphatic manner, says Anup Kumar
Anup Kumar has stated that Puneri Paltan didn’t expect to travel to Patna and beat the Pirates in such an emphatic manner like they did on Sunday. Youngster Manjeet has mentioned that he was with the Patna side last year and the knowledge helped him do well against his former side.
Puneri Paltan managed to get their first win in the seventh edition of the PKL and with that, Anup Kumar also registered his first victory as a coach. After beating Patna Pirates by a huge margin of 41-20, Anup has said that he was not expecting the game to turn out like this in their favour.
“We didn’t expect to come here and beat the home team in such an emphatic manner. Everyone thought that Pardeep Narwal would produce another strong performance but we didn’t allow him to play today,” Anup told reporters after the match on Sunday.
Pardeep Narwal fails again to lift the spirits of the home team and had a terrible first half which affected the overall performance of the Pirates. He managed to collect only six points in the game and his poor run in the season continues which is affecting the side. A great raider of his playing days, Anup said that Pardeep’s speed has decreased and that is what is affecting his performance on the mat.
“From the two or three matches that I’ve seen so far, I feel that his speed has decreased, while the speed of the opposition defence has increased. There are a lot of quick youngsters in other teams who are playing well. When defenders are faster than raiders, it is tough for them to score raid points,” explained the Pune coach.
Young Pune raider Manjeet, who was with the Patna side in the last edition, put up a great show in both the raiding and defence departments last evening. He scored a total of six points and played a crucial role in the Pune’s first win of the season. Manjeet spoke about his playing days with the Pirates and how did that help him do well on Sunday during the press conference.
“Yes, I was with the Patna Pirates last year and know how Pardeep and the others play, having practised with them. So, I used some of that knowledge to get the better of them on the mat today,” Manjeet mentioned.
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