PKL 2019 | Defence let us down as a whole, admits Sunil Kumar
Gujarat Fortunegiants’ skipper Sunil Kumar admitted that they lost the game as the defence didn’t do well and because of that, the team was under pressure. Gujarat has now lost their seventh match out of the 11 they have played till now and so now they are currently ninth on the points table.
Gujarat Fortunegiants after winning their last match thought that they have left the bad form behind but sadly that wasn’t the case for them. They lost against Haryana Steelers 25-41 in their encounter last night. In their raiding department, Abolfazl Maghsodlou and Rohit Gulia started well but because of the defence doing poorly the team got all-out when there were eight minutes left for the first half to end.
Gujarat Fortunegiants' defence was able to score only eight points throughout the game and also did as many as 19 unsuccessful tackle attempts. Their most successful pair till now, Sunil Kumar and Parvesh Bhainswal were able to score only two points. The defence as a whole wasn’t able to perform.
“Our defence didn’t play well today. If we had played well from the start then, maybe we could have won the game. But after the first All-out, they had a huge lead and our raiders also began to get caught by their defence. I didn’t feel much pressure but the defence let us down as a whole, which is why we lost,” skipper Sunil Kumar said in the post-match press conference.
Haryana Steelers ticked all the boxes in yesterday's match as they delivered an all-round performance despite them missing their head coach Rakesh Kumar due to a family tragedy. In raiding, both their main raiders (Vikas Kandola and Prasanth Kumar Rai) scored eight points each whereas in defence Ravi in the cover position was phenomenal. Ravi scored six points and was well supported by the rest of the defense.
“We played very well today. While tackling, Ravi Kumar was exceptional. He got us most of the tackle points. Plus, our three raiders Vikash Kandola, Prashanth Kumar Rai and Vinay also played well and supported the team. Everyone played well and we won in a good manner,” Haryana captain Dharamraj Cheralathan explained.