We put them under pressure, notes Krishan Kumar Hooda

Telugu Titans assistant coach Manjeet Chillar criticised the performance of senior defenders.

Krishan Kumar Hooda's Dabang Delhi beat a disjointed Telugu Titans 46-26 in a dominating display. This is Delhi’s fourth straight win in PKL season 9, taking them to the top of the table. Captain Naveen Kumar proved to be a handful once again, notching up 12 raid points. Ravi Kumar completed 200 Tackle points in the Pro Kabaddi League, notching up four on the night. This is what the coaches and captains had to say in the post-match press conference.

Dabang Delhi: Krishan Kumar Hooda and Naveen Kumar.

Game plan to contain the Titans

It was a complete team performance by Dabang Delhi. While the raiders notched up 27 raid points, the defence also contributed with a handsome 14 points. On being asked what the game plan was to restrict the Titans, coach Krishan Kumar Hooda answered, “I briefed the entire team on the opponents and made them study videos. The strategy worked well. We put them under pressure early with the raiders.”

Naveen’s secret for unmatchable consistency

Naveen Kumar has thrived under the pressure of captaincy, posting four straight Super 10s in Season 9. On being asked the secret for his success, Naveen said, “The secret is my coach. He does not tolerate any mistakes and whatever he points out, he corrects them. The team as as whole is contributing well and we are doing well together.”

The specific roles of the captain and coach

The defending champions have a good mix of young players raring to go. Krishan Kumar Hooda answered on the division of roles saying, “It is the captain’s role to put up a combination of choice. You are getting to see the result of us carefully listening to others’ opinions. We got a chance to try different methods with that lead and hand debuts to some players.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pKH8uMQuns

Telugu Titans: Assistant coach Manjeet Chillar and Surjeet Singh

How do you analyse this match?

Barring Surjeet, no player from the Telugu Titans that started managed a tackle point. Vinay was the only raider who got going and posted 9 points. Manjeet Chillar answered, “We will focus match by match. Our defence was not up to the mark.

Seniors being benched for youngsters

At half-time, the entire Titans starting seven barring Vinay were benched and some youngsters got a taste of the league for the first time. Manjeet said, “If the seniors are not playing well then what else can you do? Some senior defenders ended up with zero points. There is a long way to go and we will assess everyone and only then start them.”

What went wrong?

Captain Surjeet did not pinpoint a particular reason, rather admitted that “We did some mistakes, both in raiding and defence. They had a very good set of defenders, and they contained our raiders brilliantly.”

Pre-tournament PKL 9 favourites Telugu Titans now sit at a lowly ninth place. They play Puneri Paltan on Tuesday. Krishan Kumar Hooda's Dabang Delhi have Haryana as their next opponent.