Haryana Steelers coach Rakesh Kumar ‘overjoyed’ after his team’s victory

A nail-biting back-and-forth contest finished with Haryana Steelers triumphing over Bengaluru Bulls by a scoreline of 33-30 at the EKA Arena by TransStadia in Ahmedabad on Sunday. In the post-match press conference, coach Rakesh Kumar, Vikas Kale and Vikash Kandola took questions for Haryana Steelers, while Bengaluru Bulls were represented by coach Randhir Singh Sehrawat, skipper Rohit Kumar and raider Pawan Kumar Sehrawat.

Haryana Steelers

Q. Great comeback. Thoughts on the game?

Rakesh Kumar: I’m overjoyed that we beat the champions. We’ve won two in a row and that is mostly because how well we’ve prepared and executed. We planned to play aggressive against their two star raiders and it worked. I’m satisfied with the team’s effort.

Q. What happened at the start?

Rakesh Kumar: We could have played better. We made a couple of mistakes. But I had specifically told my team not to lose composure if Bengaluru Bulls took an early lead. The way the team responded to the first All-Out was brilliant.

Q. What was the key to your performance?

Vikas Kale: The coach was clear in his tactics and told us to play freely and not overthink. That gave us a lot of confidence and the results are evident.

Bengaluru Bulls

Q. Thoughts on the defence?

Randhir Singh Sehrawat: Towards the end we could’ve played better. We gave away a few points that we usually wouldn’t. But these things happen.

Q. Thoughts on Rohit’s performance?

Randhir Singh Sehrawat: It was a brilliant performance I believe. Last game, too, he had eight points. Both raiders played well. We had control over proceedings for most of the game.

Q. What do you think was the turning points?

Randhir Singh Sehrawat: We kept their raiders quiet in the first half, however in the second half they fared much better. In the final three minutes as well, they trumped us, which usually doesn’t happen as we are extremely good in the closing stages of matches.

Q. Pawan, do you feel the pressure as the lead raider?

Pawan Kumar Sehrawat: I don’t believe so. Having Rohit (Kumar) is a huge positive. And he’s been brilliant in the last two matches.