BC Ramesh: The finish was too close for comfort

An inspired performance from skipper Maninder Singh helped Bengal Warriors beat Jaipur Pink Panthers by a scoreline of 41-40 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday. At the post-match press conference, Bengal Warriors coach BC Ramesh took questions for their team, while Jaipur Pink Panthers were represented by coach Srinivas Reddy, captain Deepak Hooda and raider Nilesh Salunke.

Bengal Warriors

Q. Thoughts on the performance?

BC Ramesh: The performance was good for most part. However, it was too close for comfort in the final few minutes. We allowed them to make a comeback mostly through our own errors.

Q. What happened that allowed them to comeback?

BC Ramesh: We were rightly taking our time during our raids, but they were putting in shorter raids and scoring bonuses. Our defenders tried to stop that and ended up giving away touch points as well.

Q. Do you think Maninder needed another support raider?

BC Ramesh: K. Prapanjan was playing his part as the supporting raider. But he had to come off due to a slight injury. Otherwise, the raiding unit was doing its part.

Q. Now that you've qualified for the playoffs, how will you be approaching the upcoming match against Telugu Titans?

BC Ramesh: We have to try and win. They are a very good team with some fantastic players. Siddharth Desai has found form recently. Suraj is also a dangerous raider. In defence, they have Abozar Mohajermighani and Vishal Bhardwaj. So, they are an excellent team and I hope we can perform well against them.

Q. Will you be testing the bench now that you've qualified for the playoffs?

BC Ramesh: We want to try and win all our games but yes, it’s important to test the bench and rotate a few starters. We will see what they have to offer as well.

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Q. Coach, are you happy with the team’s fight back?

Srinivas Reddy: We lost the game so I can’t really be happy. It was a great game of kabaddi, but we lost.

Q. Thoughts on the overall performance?

Srinivas Reddy: The raiding unit was spectacular. Last night, they could have played better but today they were outstanding. The defence could have played much better today.

Q. Deepak, how do you assess the raiding unit's performance?

Deepak Hooda: The raiding unit was the stellar unit. They were the reason for our comeback. The defence made some uncharacteristic errors today and that cost us the match.

Q. Nilesh, outstanding performance today. Thoughts?

Nilesh Salunke: I'm happy that I contributed but I'm not pleased with the result. The coach told me to express myself and not to worry about the score too much.