Haryana Steelers’ coach Manpreet Singh hits back at Ram Mehar Singh pour Shadloui controversy: PKL 11 Exclusive

Haryana Steelers coach also spoke on Mohit Nandal’s ban.

Manpreet Singh is a coach who never minces his words. Anyone who has watched a game of Kabaddi during his tenure at the Gujarat Fortunegiants or the Haryana Steelers will agree that he wears his emotions on his sleeves.

He was unfortunately past his prime as a player when the league was introduced in 2014. However, in his only season: the third edition, he captained the Patna Pirates to their first-ever title, which started a glorious streak of three consecutive championship wins.

It was also the break-through season for Pardeep Narwal, who went on to become the most prolific raider in the league’s history and recently became the first player to cross 1700 PKL career points.

Manpreet, in his young career as a coach, has already found success. He led Gujarat to the finals in the first two years after their inception. Last season he led the Steelers to the finals, despite the fact that the team was considered an underdog. They heartbreakingly suffered a 25-28 defeat in the final against a marauding Puneri Paltan unit.

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This PKL 11 season, he has had to endure a few headaches, the biggest one being the ban handed to right cover Mohit Nandal, as a result of doping. However, the coach from Sonipat remains as positive as ever.

Manpreet was kind enough to take some time aside from his hectic schedule and give an exclusive interview to Khel Now, where he hit back at Ram Mehar Singh’s claims, commented on Mohit’s ban, and discussed his mindset.

Manpreet rubbishes Ram Mehar’s claims

Gujarat Giants‘ coach Ram Mehar Singh had stated in an interview that the Haryana Steelers never intended to buy Mohammadreza Chiyaneh Shadloui, but only wanted to waste the former’s purse. The Haryana Steelers had overcome stiff bidding from the Giants to secure the services of the Iranian left corner. Manpreet shrugged aside the claims made by the coach who is now associated with his former team.

“Everyone has their views. His and my views might differ. I can assure you that the management and I wanted Shadloui. We had lost the PKL 10 final and I felt that it was due to our left corner being weak. Mohit, Jaideep (Dahiya), and Rahul (Sethpal) had their best performances in season 10,” said Manpreet Singh.

“Our raiders are the same as the ones in the previous season. Hence, we decided to bring in a strong right corner. We had decided that we would bid Rs. 2.10 Cr for Shadloui. We didn’t spoil anyone’s purse. Others emptied our purse. Considering they had the money if they wanted him, they would have bid further. God has given them enough brains to figure out that the Haryana Steelers couldn’t go beyond Rs. 2.10 Cr, else the team construction will be disrupted,” added Manpreet Singh.

Watch the full Interview here:

“If you wanted to spoil our purse, you could have gone a bit further. You can’t save yourself by saying that we tried to ruin your purse. Instead, you should say that Haryana had properly done a study and figured out the dynamics for Shadloui. Our owner placed his full faith in me and bought him.”

“If you have watched the entire game, you will realize that we played most of the match with a defence of 4 or 5. We desperately needed the cover defenders. The Puneri Paltan raiders never attack the cover or corner defenders. They had two left raiders, who won’t have to try for a bonus under Shadloui’s nose. They only had one right raider, who wasn’t looking for a bonus,” he added.

Mohit Nandal’s absence

It is not easy to replace a player of Mohit’s calibre, considering he has been an integral part of the squad for such a long time. Coach Manpreet wasn’t completely aware of these developments before the auction.

“We had an idea about this during the auctions, but it wasn’t clear. It is possible to go to court or have a discussion with the Kabaddi Federation or NADA. Things only became clear after the auctions.”

“It is not possible to replace key players. God has given birth to only one Mohit, Jaideep, Shadloui, and Rahul. Someone else can come and make their name, but it is not possible to be a replacement for Mohit. Mohit and Jaideep have become big names after playing for four seasons. So the new ones will take time to settle down.”

“But this season, I consider my team to be very strong. I neither take a win for granted nor accept defeat before the final whistle. My team will always be positive and work hard.”

Strategy for the first few matches

The Haryana Steelers have started PKL 11 on a decent note, considering the challenges they have had to overcome. They lost to defending champions Puneri Paltan 35-25, but defeated two-time champions Jaipur Pink Panthers 37-25. The former Pirates’ skipper doesn’t want to give much thought to the results of these games.

“Pune have 6 players from the starting 7 who played the final last time. On the other hand, I don’t have 3-4 players who played the final for us. I have a new young raider and two young cover defenders. They only have a new left corner, who is also a guy who has played PKL for the last three-four seasons. It is my team that needed to settle down. I have never asked my team for a win in the first couple of matches. I only check about the performance I need to do in the long season coming up.”

“Even if we lose the first 2-3 matches, it doesn’t matter to me. I want to make sure that the debutants aren’t feeling nervous in the spotlight. I judge the players and see who can perform consistently for me going ahead. Our plans are ready. There will be ups and downs- it isn’t possible to win all 22 matches. Only a team that trains together for the entire year can achieve something like that.”

“Puneri Paltan have been doing that for the past 3-4 years. The same boys practice together for the whole year. My team has only attended a camp for 15-20 days, or at most 1 month. Therefore, we need time to settle down.”

Kabaddi being a ‘Team Sport’

Historically, the presence of explosive raiders like Pardeep Narwal, Pawan Sehrawat, and Arjun Deshwal have contributed greatly to the success of title-winning outfits. Manpreet Singh is one of the few coaches who have proven that a team can do well even if they don’t have a player who can single-handedly win matches.

“Kabaddi is not an individual sport. The ‘one-man army’ style of play is not something that I advocated during my playing days, nor do I use it now in my coaching pattern. When I train my players, I tell them to score 10 points if they get 5 raids and 20 if they get 10 raids. I don’t want players who will do 24 raids and score just 10 points.”

“I have told my raiders that no one will get more than 6-7 raids. In a contact sport like kabaddi, which involves so much coordination, I never tell anyone that the entire team is dependent upon that one person. There are 7 players, and if each one scores 3-4 points, then the cumulative score is high. The winning score generally ranges from 26-30. I don’t want one person to score 15 points and the rest to score 1-2 each.”

“At both Gujarat and Haryana, I never bought prominent raiders. However, I have taken the Giants to the final twice and the Steelers once. So this myth will either be broken by me, or some new young coach. There is no big raider in Kabaddi. If you make the same person raid 20+ times, it is natural that they will have 4-5 successful ones then. A good raider plays according to the team’s needs. My team consists of Vinay, Shivam Patare, Vishal Tate, Sanskar Mishra, and Jaya Soorya. For me, all are stars.”

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