PKL 2019 | Gujarat in spot of bother after Delhi loss, admits Manpreet Singh
Gujarat Fortunegiants coach Manpreet Singh has admitted that Gujarat Fortunegiants are currently in a spot of bother after dropping a place following their four-point loss against Dabang Delhi. Manpreet also added that if they wish to reach the playoffs, they have to win their next six matches.
Gujarat Fortuneginats created trouble for themselves after they lost their last night’s match against Dabang Delhi and slipped to the 9th position on the points table. In the first half of the game, Gujarat failed to get going on both sides of the mat as Delhi inflicted an all out in the first twenty minutes. The first half score reflected pretty much the same with the scoreboard reading 20-9 in Delhi's favour. Though they did make a comeback afterwards they failed to go all the way through because of mistakes in defence.
“Right now, we are in a spot of bother. We need to win our six games to stand a chance. If we played like we played today, it’s going to be difficult. Sure we need a few favours from other teams in terms of results but if we play like we have and don’t help our cause, how can we expect other teams to help us?,” coach Manpreet Singh when asked about their chances of getting into the playoffs, in the post-match press conference.
When one looks at the head-to-head of the match, it is clearly visible that the difference was the defence. Delhi’s defence scored 10 points whereas Gujarat’s defence managed to score only 5 points. Players like skipper Sunil Kumar and Parvesh Bhainswal failed to score for the team and that put them in a spot of bother.
“We couldn’t execute our gameplan in attack in the first half. In the second half, our raiders played like we had planned to from the start. Had we executed our plan in the first half, we would have won comfortably,” Singh said.
The raiding unit was also short of options as Sachin had a off-day where he got ousted 5 times and was able to score only 4 points. Rohit Gulia was the only saving grace with 13 raid points.
“We have lacked the firepower coming off the bench. In the past, we have had players like Mahendra Rajput, K. Prapanjan, who would come off the bench in tricky situation and show their maturity and experience. That has been an issue for us. We haven’t played badly, but we've had trouble cashing in on our advantage and closing out games,” Singh explained.
The team scripted a brilliant comeback in the second half where they troubled the opposition's defence which had made only one mistake in the first half.Â
“My players are unable to play according to the plan in the first half. They wake up in the second half and get the game close. They need to be able to play well for 40 minutes. I'm not the kind of coach that will scream and shout at my players. I believe in teaching them the right way to play and I hope they learn soon,” Singh concluded.