Sukesh Hegde: Confident about our raiders getting the better of Joginder and Ravinder

Bengal Warriors held their nerve towards the closing stages of their vivo Pro Kabaddi Season 7 semi-final clash against U Mumba on Wednesday. They beat the Season 2 champions 37-35 at the EKA Arena by TransStadia in Ahmedabad and set up a clash against Dabang Delhi K.C. at the same venue in the campaign’s grand finale.

Bengal Warriors will probably be without their skipper and talisman Maninder Singh, who has been sidelined due to injury for his team’s last few games and also missed the semi-final. Needless to say, Maninder is a huge loss for the team but their coach BC Ramesh believes his side are well-equipped to still take the match to Dabang Delhi K.C. in the final.

“Look our team isn’t reliant on any particular individual. Even though Maninder Singh’s absence is a big loss for us, Mohammad Nabibakhsh and Sukesh Hegde have delivered for us in the raiding department. K. Prapanjan is also a good raider. They all have great qualities; Prapanjan is a quick raider, the other is a weight raider and Nabibakhsh is a technical raider,” said Ramesh in the post-match press conference after his side’s win in the semi-final.

Hegde, in particular, has come to the fore in the latter half of the league and he shared his thoughts on Dabang Delhi K.C.’s defence ahead of the final showdown on Saturday. “Joginder Narwal and Ravinder Pahal are both great defenders. Our two previous games against Dabnag Delhi K.C. this year have ended in a tie and a win for us. But that was during the league stage and now it’s all about the final, so I’m sure they will have different plans for the match,” he said.

“We will also plan differently compared to what we did in the league stage. I am confident that we can get the better of Joginder and Ravinder through the combination of Nabibakhsh, Prapanjan and me. Two out of the three of us are bound to find success against them and our team is fully confident about that,” Hegde added.

Hegde, who has played a vivo Pro Kabaddi final before, kept his cards close to his chest when quizzed on his team’s strategy for the final. “It will be Bengal Warriors’ first appearance in a final, but I have been a part of a final before with Gujarat Fortunegiants. Our game-plan for the grand finale is to make some different plans but look for the same result as we managed in the semi-final against U Mumba. We shall devise our plans according to the opposition and look to execute it in a proper manner.”