PKL 10: Our main goal is to win the trophy, asserts Puneri Paltan captain Aslam Inamdar

The Paltan has secured a semi-final berth in the PKL 10.

Table-toppers Puneri Paltan steamrolled all over the Tamil Thalaivas in their recent Pro Kabaddi League season 10 (PKL 10) contest at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata on Sunday. The outfit secured a convincing 56-29 win over the Thalaivas who succumbed to a 12th defeat of the ongoing season.

Pankaj Mohite (12) was one of the outstanding performers for the Puneri Paltan and they were also helped by a sensational display by Mohammadreza Chiyaneh (8) who also reached the 250 tackle points mark in his PKL career, becoming the fastest player to achieve the feat.

Puneri Paltan is eyeing the trophy this season after losing in the final last term and such was the message in the post-match press conference too. Here are the excerpts from the conversation with both camps:

Analysis of the game

Ashan Kumar, Tamil Thalaivas‘ head coach, credited injuries and underperforming players as central reasons for the defeat. He said, “Sagar was not able to defend well and Sahil, who had arrived from the hospital was not fully fit. There were a lot of calls from outside the franchise and inside to give our players from Iran a chance and we started them both but unfortunately, they could not perform up to the levels expected.”

Things not working in our favour

Sahil, who captained the Thalaivas, spoke about being unable to defend and said, “We could not come back into the game as the defence was not doing well. The coach took steps to improve their performance but it did not work in our favour. The raiders were also unable to get points and that is why the result went against us.”

Aslam Inamdar on the squad’s performance

Aslam Inamdar talked about giving a chance to fresh faces and said, “Our objective is always to win. The team played with a lot of coordination and good combination with every player giving his hundred percent. We used the fringe players well, gave them a chance and they proved their quality too. My hope is those players have a successful career ahead.”

The goal is to win the trophy

The tactician at Puneri Paltan spoke about the franchise’s ambitions going ahead and said, “Our main goal is to win the trophy. We will try to improve on a few things that hurt us in our performance in the final last season. We still have three matches to go and more squad players will get the chance to impress. The team is doing well and will continue to work towards improving.”

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