With two wins in three matches, Haryana Steelers start their campaign in the third leg of Season 10 of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) with a clash against Puneri Paltan at the Balewadi Sports Complex here on Saturday. It has been a solid start for the JSW-owned franchise with two big wins in three games and co-captain Mohit Nandal summed up the Bengaluru leg, explaining the reasons behind the team's success.
"We have won two back-to-back matches after losing the first game, and it has increased the confidence of the team. The players are motivated and we are forming good combinations. All the players are communicating well with each other. The best part of the season so far has been the plans that are being devised by the coaches," Mohit said ahead of his side’s fourth game of the edition.
The Steelers began their campaign with a 57-27 defeat against the UP Yoddhas in Ahmedabad but bounced back in style in Bengaluru defeating Bengaluru Bulls 38-32 and Dabang Delhi 35-33. Mohit delved deeper into the areas where the team worked after the first game giving a brief insight into the conversations that happened in the dressing room following the result.
"We lost by a big margin in the first game. The team morale was hit. But our Coach Manpreet Singh told us that it was just the first game and it always takes time to form good combinations. We have a lot of young players in the team - so the coach discussed the strategies with all of us and we trained accordingly. The results speak for themselves,” he said.
Siddharth Desai has been the star of the Haryana Steelers' campaign so far with 21 points, while Jaideep and Mohit, with 10 and 8 points, respectively, have been the backbone of their defence once again."Overall, the Bengaluru leg was quite good for us. Our key learning is that it is important to communicate between the players. If we can play together as a team, we can put ourselves in winning situations at all times,” Mohit said.
It is always a challenging proposition to play against the home team in front of their fans but Mohit said Steelers wasn’t worried about crowd reactions and said that his side will focus on their own game. "We will face off against Puneri Paltan in front of their home crowd. We have already discussed our plans and the teams will look to play as per the strategies discussed by the team. We are confident of getting a good result from the game,” he signed off.