Manpreet Singh: The defence was outstanding today

Gujarat Fortunegiants defeated Jaipur Pink Panthers in a Zone A clash at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida. Representing Gujarat Fortunegiants at the post-match press conference were captain Sunil Kumar and coach Manpreet Singh. Taking questions for Jaipur Pink Panthers were captain Anup Kumar and coach Srinivas Reddy.

Gujarat Fortunegiants

Q: Your defence was brilliant today. They got 15 tackle points. What do you have to say?

Manpreet Singh: The defence was outstanding today. They played according to our strategy. These youngsters have been performing well all throughout but today they were at a different level. The Super Tackle on Anup Kumar was the turning point of the game according to me. He is a very senior player and the pressure is huge when you’re up against players of his calibre. They absorbed the pressure and inflicted that Super Tackle brilliantly.

Q: You got yet another High 5, managing 8 tackle points today. How important was this defensive performance according to you?

Sunil Kumar: I am very happy, not only for myself but also for Ruturaj Koravi, who put in his best performance of the league so far. Jaipur Pink Panthers have experienced players like Anup Kumar, Mohit Chhillar and Deepak Niwas Hooda, so to do well against them is very encouraging. We had set our strategies against them and performed according to that. This led us to win the game today.

Q: You play Dabang Delhi K.C. next. How will you plan for that game and the game against U Mumba?

Manpreet Singh: Each match is a different match and every team is different. You have to plan differently for each team. Once you send the senior players off the mat, it becomes easier to take points off the team. We will decide our strategies in the coming days.

Jaipur Pink Panthers

Q: Was Anup Kumar’s Super Tackle the turning point of the match?

Srinivas Reddy: Not exactly. Our other raiders also didn’t perform according to expectations. All of them were getting caught in a similar manner. We couldn’t score when we needed to. We had a lot of expectations from Deepak Niwas Hooda since he was in good form, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do it for us. We need to start getting points in these situations if we are to stand a chance of winning.

Q: Where do you think your team was lacking today?

Anup Kumar: I think we lost the match after my Super Tackle. We weren’t able to come back from there. If we would have had the All-Out there, we would have taken the lead from where we could have finished the game. Their raiders weren’t performing as well as their defence. So if we were leading, they would have been under pressure and we could have exploited that.