PKL 2019 | We are working on mistakes committed so far this season, states Srinivas Reddy

After starting the tournament on a great note, inaugural champions Jaipur Pink Panthers have now slipped out of the top six on the points table. With 43 points from 16 games, the Pink Panthers are now at the seventh spot. They are behind UP Yoddha by five points but the most important thing for them is that they are going to kick-start their home leg at the Sawai man Singh Stadium from tomorrow. Their first home game will be against Gujarat Fortunegiants and the Srinivas Reddy-coached side will be hoping for a good run in front of their home crowd.

Deepak Niwas is playing his first full season as a skipper and though he started perfectly, his performance has shown a dip in last few matches. The Jaipur skipper has a total of 110 raid points from 16 games and Reddy is of the belief that captaincy has nothing to do with his performance and it was the all-rounder’s illness that affected him in few of the games.

Not only their skipper Deepak Niwas, Jaipur have two very good corner defenders in the form of Amit Hooda at the right corner and Sandeep Dhull at the left side of the mat. The combination of the corners had also started well this season but Amit is having a dull phase at the moment. On the other hand, Dhull is still leading the chart of top defenders with 57 points from 16 matches so far. The Telangana man shared his tips to the corners and what they should do to stop the opposition raiders during the game.

When asked about cover defender Sunil Siddhgavali, the coach replied, “He is playing his supporting role very well but sometimes what happens is, he is in two minds about a tackle. If Sandeep is going for a tackle, which is not a successful one, he goes for the quick support and hence gets out.”

Jaipur have players like Deepak Narwal, Nilesh Salunke and Ajinkya Pawar to support their skipper in the raiding department. We have also seen the inclusion of Sushil Gulia in the team in the few of the games for raiding but none of them has been that very good which has been another major reason of their failure whenever Deepak Niwas has not done well on the mat. Reddy also admitted to the fact that the raiders have not been that consistent in the Jaipur camp. However, he said that all his players have the calibre to win matches for the Jaipur-based side.

“All our 18 players have match-winning capabilities. Whenever the team need, we will use a specific player. They are a part of Jaipur Pink Panthers because they are capable so we will definitely use their services ahead and they will support us,” the coach signed off.