Pune: Manpreet’s Haryana Steelers will launch a bid to end their four-game winless streak as the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) Season 9 continues on Monday, when they face off against Gujarat Giants at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, here on Monday.
The previous encounter against U.P. Yoddhas saw Steelers go down fighting after heroics from Manjeet. But the JSW Sports-owned franchise fell short and could not earn their fifth win of the season.
Ahead of their next encounter against Giants, Manjeet opened up on the lessons learned over the past three games and explained how the team will look to bounce back on Monday.
“We did well against U.P. Yoddhas to ensure they remain on their toes till the final whistle, even though they had taken a big lead early on. It is really important for us to win the next game against Gujarat Giants, so we have taken lessons from our previous outing and we have worked on fixing those areas in training. It is important to maintain momentum in a match and we will look to do the same,” Manjeet said.
Despite being a raider, Manjeet has also been making clear tackles in the past few games. On being asked about the same, he confirmed that it is something he has been working on in the training sessions.
“We all want to be useful to the team in any which way we can. I have been working on my defending as well to try and earn some useful points for the team if needed,” he said.
Rakesh has been a strong raider in Giants’ corner, with him having earned 93 points in 12 games so far. Parteek Dahiya and Chandran Ranjit have also been in good form over the past few games for Gujarat. Manjeet said that the Steelers’ defensive unit will be ready to counter the threat posed by the opposition’s raiders and will look to keep them away from the mat as much as possible.
“We have spoken about their raiding trio which has been performing well despite a couple of injuries. Our defenders know what they have to do and our coach has also told us that we need to ensure we keep them away from the mat as much as possible. It will be a good contest and we are confident our defenders will do well,” he said.
Manjeet further stressed on the importance of winning the rest of the games and added that his team will still be in the hunt to make it to the playoffs.
“We will give our best and get the win. There is still a long way to go in the tournament but it is important for us to not lose any points now to give ourselves a chance in the playoffs,” he signed off.
–IANS