PKL 2019 | Mistakes cost us a win by better margin, says Rakesh Kumar
PKL
Haryana Steelers coach Rakesh Kumar expressed his concern despite his team’s win and said that if not for advance tackles and small mistakes, they could have won by bigger margins. He also talked about the raider's performances and their strategy against the Tamil Thalaivas’ defence.
Haryana Steelers displayed an all-round performance as they won by 8 points against Tamil Thalaivas last evening. They inflicted an all-out in the first half and even managed to gain a lead of 6 points but they couldn’t maintain it and match got close and went back and froth for a while, though due to opposition’s mistakes and their performance they manage to win the match in the end.
“The team is playing well. I am happy. But I am also a little nervous because we had such a good lead and the match was going so well. On the head of advance tackles, the match was mostly neck and neck. We could have won with a better margin if we had not committed small mistakes,” Rakesh Kumar said in the post-match press conference.
Vikas Kandola was his usual self as he scored yet another Super Ten but Prashant Kumar Rai’s match wasn’t going that well so Vinay picked up his slack and finished the match with his own Super Ten.Â
“Vikash was quite nervous at the start because Manjeet Chhillar is very good defender and he has quite a few good qualities. So Vikash was quite wary of his advance tackles, but after half time we noticed that he wasn't going for it. We decided for Vikash to stick to moves that he was perfect in. There were a lot of times where Manjeet was coming in closer and then falling back. We decided that we should go in deep and try and score from there. That's what happened, Vikash went in deep,” coach said about his raiding unit and their strategy.
The defence also did well as they scored 15 tackle points collectively. Vikas Kale and Sunil scored 4 points each whereas Ravi Kumar and Dharmaraj Cheralathan scored 3 points each. Though the only issue was the number of unsuccessful tackles which were 18, that for any team is not a good sign.
“That's something to be happy about, of course. I am coach here and the team is doing well. What else can me happier? I have put in the effort in the team during our camp, and I am satisfied with the fact they are performing well as a result. About the remaining seven matches, I can't say that my team has qualified for the playoffs. Seven matches is a lot. Every team is capable of fighting back. I just want us to play the remaining matches in the same rhythm,” Rakesh said when asked about his feeling on Haryana reaching the play-offs comfortably.
