Manpreet: The Delhi team is strong

Dabang Delhi K.C. and Gujarat Fortunegiants played out a 32-32 tie on Tuesday in a nail-biting kabaddi encounter. In the post-match press conference, Gujarat Fortunegiants captain Sunil Kumar and coach Manpreet Singh spoke to the press for their team while Dabang Delhi K.C. were represented by coach Krishan Kumar Hooda, captain Joginder Narwal and raider Chandran Ranjit.

Gujarat Fortunegiants

Q. Give us your perspective on the match.

Manpreet Singh: It was a great match. Delhi has a very good team as well. All teams in our zone are performing very well. As far as the match is concerned, Gujarat played very well in the first half. But they came back towards the end. The defenders played well throughout though.

Q. What was the thought process behind the team selection today?

Manpreet Singh: A lot of guys in our team were making their debuts today and it’s a long league, so the plan was to give the players a couple of games to adjust. Watch this defence as we go ahead in the tournament, they will do much better.

Q. What was the plan against the Delhi team?

Manpreet Singh: The players Delhi started with are all star players. Players like Shabeer Bappu, Meraj Sheykh are all superstars. We will plan for players like these going ahead and hope we don’t get any more surprise factors like Ranjit today. But yes, I can say that the Delhi team is strong this season.

Q. Sunil, you were doing a lot as captain. Tell us about your team’s defence.

Sunil Kumar: This was the first time I was captaining in VIVO Pro Kabaddi. The defence did very well in the first half. Both our corners were playing their first game and will surely do even better from the next match.

Dabang Delhi K.C.

Q. You were initially trailing and then came back courtesy of your raiders. What do you have to say about them, especially Naveen who was making his debut?

 Krishan Kumar Hooda: Naveen is a very good player who hasn’t played much before. I have high hopes from him. In the coming days, he will perform very well. We can’t say who will win or lose but can say that Dabang Delhi K.C. will play well this season.

Q. What was the thinking behind your substitutions?

Krishan Kumar Hooda: All 12 players are equal. There are times when someone is doing better than the others and, according to our strategy, we sometimes must make changes. All 12 are playing members and even though they’re on the bench, they play an important part during the game.

Q. You played well today and made some good tackles. What do you have to say?

Joginder Narwal: All the players played according to the plan, especially Vishal Mane. I will do even better in the next match.