Expect something special from Jaipur Pink Panthers this season, says Hooda

Jaipur Pink Panther won a nail-biting contest against Bengal Warriors at the Dome@NSCI SVP Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. The Season 1 champions came from behind in the closing seconds, courtesy of heroics from defender Sandeep Dhull, and nicked the match by a 27-25 scoreline. In the post-match press conference, captain Deepak Hooda and coach Srinivas Reddy took questions for Jaipur Pink Panthers while Bengal Warriors were represented by coach BC Ramesh and captain Maninder Singh.

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Q. How satisfying was this victory for you considering it was a high-pressure game?

Srinivas Reddy: It was a good victory because Bengal Warriors, too, have a good team and they had won big in Hyderabad. It was a close match but both teams are good. They had even won their previous match in Hyderabad. I am glad that both our defence and offence fired. It really was a great performance by the boys.

Q. Deepak, your confidence seems to be at an all-time high. What do you think has changed for you?

Deepak Hooda: Last season, I made some mistakes and even this season, I’m yet to hit my peak. However, I am happy that the team is winning matches. We prepared well for the past two months that is why our confidence can be seen in our body language. That is why we can maintain our focus on the mat. We were able to do well in a high-pressure situation because we had practised how to deal with these scenarios. The team never gave up and if they keep playing this way then you will get to see something special from Jaipur Pink Panthers this season.

Q. Tell us something about your team’s defence.

Srinivas Reddy: There were some moments where our defence fumbled but apart from that, Sandeep Dhull’s performance was outstanding throughout the match. His last tackle was a game-changing tackle. He performed against a player who had scored a Super 10 in his last match which speaks for his quality.

Bengal Warriors

Q. What went wrong in the end after being in the lead for most of the match?

BC Ramesh: We made some technical and strategic errors in the last 30-40 seconds which cost us the match. The rest of the match pretty much went our way.

Q. Tell us something about your raiding unit.

BC Ramesh: Our raiding unit is performing very well. Today Mohammad Nabibakhsh wasn’t able to do well but K. Prapanjan did an outstanding job.

Q. Maninder, what are your thoughts on tonight’s performance?

Maninder Singh: The team performed well for most of the match, but we weren’t able to keep the same momentum in the closing seconds.