Lack of star power derails Haryana Steelers in playoffs push

Manpreet Singh couldn't inspire the team from Panchkula to the title.

Haryana Steelers finished Pro Kabaddi League PKL season 9 in the seventh position, just two points away from the playoffs spot. The side played well towards the end winning four out of the five games, but the damage was done in the middle phase of the league stage. Manpreet Singh after being appointed as the new coach has done a decent job with the side performing well at times but was not consistent throughout denying them the playoff spot.

Top Performers

Manjeet

Manjeet Dahiya was the lead raider for Haryana Steelers scoring 163 points in 22 league matches. Overall the raider scored six super 10s and was equally supportive in the defensive section as well scoring 14 tackle points. This was the third successive season in which Manjeet has scored more than 150 plus points and now the raider needs to break the 200 points barrier going forward in the next season.

Meetu Sharma

Meetu Sharma was the second-best raider scoring 137 points in 20 matches. He showed excellent skills in a few matches but couldn't convert them into points on a consistent basis. After debuting in season 8 the raider has put in a good effort and scored close to 150 points as a secondary raider. If Meetu starts to show consistency then the player will definitely turn into a star raider.

Jaideep Dahiya

Jaideep Dahiya is the only defender from Haryana Steelers to score 50 plus tackle points. The defender has scored 57 points in 21 matches and occupies a spot in the top 10 of the tackle points table. This is also the second season in which Jaideep has scored 50 plus tackle points but in season 8 the defender scored 66 points. The cover defender got good support from Mohit Nandal but overall the defensive unit wasn't good.

Underperformer of the season

Amirhossein Bastami

The young Iranian scored 24 points in 16 matches and was one of the youngsters to watch out for before the start of the season. He started regularly in the playing seven but the combination with experienced Joginder Narwal did not work out which made the coach rethink a different combo altogether. 

Manager’s report card

Manpreet Singh is known to be an aggressive coach having won the PKL title as a player and reaching the finals twice as a coach. The team at times did not show much aggressiveness with both departments (raiding and defence) not operating simultaneously. Also, the coach could have used a few players as substitutes regularly (Prapanjan) but he failed to do so.

Lessons to be learned

The team looked great on paper but the performances did not reflect on the mat. The team did not possess a raider who can single-handedly win matches. Although the team had Manjeet Dahiya and Meetu both scored well but weren't the kind of players to score more than 200 points in a season.