PKL 2019 | Joginder Narwal’s calmness highlights importance of captaincy in kabaddi
PKL
Captaincy plays a crucial role in kabaddi but their importance is not highlighted or discussed a lot. There are a very few captains in the league who have been that good with their leadership duties to make people realise that the skippers are as important as the coaches for strategizing.
A team sport like kabaddi that involves more mind games over strength, strategy making, and tactical calls. It is up to the skippers to take a call on the mat when a game is on and before each raid, a captain should be aware enough about the match situations and the game awareness is a necessity.
For instance, in the inaugural game of PKL 7, there was a Do or Die raid for Telugu Titans, but it seemed like Siddharth Desai was unaware about the raid. He went ahead and came back without a point and eventually had to leave the mat on that occasion. As we watched the action, it’ didn’t look like the first-time skipper Abozar Mighani had a word with his star raider which cost the team. ON the other hand, Fazel Atrachali was involved with the players before each and every raid. Although a defender, he had something to say to the raiders as well and that is where one feels that the skipper is in control of the happenings on the mat.
However, these things are not often highlighted in the league with the primary reason being the coach sitting very close to the players have an opportunity to have a close look at the game and take a call or pass on a message. The coach gets opportunities to speak to his players during the timeout to strategise things and make plans forward for a particular game. There are many raiders-cum-captains like Rohit Kumar and Pardeep Narwal who mostly keep themselves away from the strategies to tackle a player. But with a defender being the captain, at times, highlight the importance of the leader in the side.
We have already talked about Atrachali earlier in this article and there is Joginder Narwal who is of a similar character and calibre when it comes to leading a team. Playing at the same position as the Iranian, Joginder has a vast experience in the league since the second season of the tournament. He is also considered as one of the finest in the country at the crucial position and has a very good understanding of the game with a vast amount of experience of playing 60 matches so far in his PKL career.Â
As someone who has achieved a lot, the 37-year-old defender was named the skipper of the Dabang Delhi side this year as well after he managed to take them through into the playoffs last year for the first time in the franchise’s history. His 51 tackle points from 22 matches will not prove what he actually has done for the team. But when it comes to the captaincy, Joginder was seen speaking to each and every player in the camp before a raid.Â
 © PKLThe team from the national capital had players like Ravinder Pahal and Meraj Sheykh who had a huge amount of experience and youngsters like Naveen Kumar and Chandran Ranjith. Joginder handled all of them really well. His game-awareness and ability to remain calm and stable on the mat during tense situations helped Delhi to claim tough moments in the games last year. Naveen and Ranjith, despite being raiders, were seen seeking advice from the skipper which made the understanding between the players better.
Impact of the skipper on Delhi’s rise last year is always praised by their coach Krishan Kumar Hooda. Ahead of the auctions this year, when the franchise decided to retain him in Elite Player Retention Hooda highlighted Joginder’s role in shaping up the team perfectly last season.
“We have retained Joginder Narwal because he is someone who controls the team really well. He is an experienced player and as a captain, he had a brilliant season last year and performed well,” Hooda told SportsCafe.
With their skipper being a defender, it works well for the team. Seven out of 12 captains in the league are defenders and then there is all-rounder Deepak Niwas Hooda which makes it eight. The players are of the same opinion as well that defenders lead a team in a more proper manner. When SportsCafe had spoken to Ravinder Pahal, who forms a deadly corner combination with his skipper, last year, he stressed on the same.Â
“If the captain of your team is a defender, it actually works well for the team. He makes the raiders understand about the possible moves by the opposition defenders because a defender can only understand what a defender thinks. He (Joginder) is really good both as a player and the skipper of the team. He is also an experienced player so all others in the side adhere to his instructions in the side,” Ravinder had said in 2018.
Come 2019, Delhi retains almost all their major players including skipper Joginder, Pahal, Sheykh, Naveen, Ranjith and Mane. They had kept Naveen in the New Young Player (NYP) category while Joginder and Sheykh were kept by Hooda in Elite Player Retention. With all the same combination of youth and experience, Delhi aims to go a couple of steps further this year to win the title and they have again handed over the leadership duties the very patient senior pro Joginder for season 7. He is focussed to come out of all the mistakes from last year not only at the individual level but for the improvement of the team.Â
“We did well in the last edition by following the guidance and instructions of our coach. This time also we will do the same and the team will stay focused on rectifying the mistakes that we committed in the last edition,” Delhi skipper Joginder had told SportsCafe before the start of the season.Â
