PKL 12: Mohammadreza Shadloui reveals reason behind his poor performance against Puneri Paltan

Puneri Paltan won their second consecutive match in PKL 12.

Puneri Paltan took Gujarat Giants to the cleaners with a dominant performance in the second match of day 4 of the Pro Kabaddi League 12 (PKL 12). It was a well-worked team performance from Ajay Thakur’s side, while the Gujarat Giants struggled to score the easiest points.

The Giants looked clueless while Puneri Paltan worked like a well-oiled machine and pulled off a win with a 22-point margin in match 8 of PKL 12.

After the game, Puneri Paltan captain and head coach, as well as Gujarat Giants captain and head coach, addressed the media.

Puneri Paltan

Thoughts on the game

Puneri Paltan’s head coach, Ajay Thakur, expressed his happiness over his side’s win and said, “I am happy with these two victories. We worked on the mistakes that we made in the first match and tried to correct them.”

I didn’t think we would win by such a big margin. Shadloui is a good player and the league’s best defender, but today he was not able to play well for some reason. If he had played well, he would have taken multiple catches. So this was a plus point for my team that Shadloui did not play well,” he added.

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Thoughts on Shadloui and captaincy duties

Aslam Inamdar praised Mohammadreza Shadloui for his contributions and said, “I know Shadloui is a good player, but sometimes it happens, there is a twist in the game. This is part of the game. Sometimes you go down, sometimes you do well; no one can do well. But Shadloui handled the team well.”

Aslam further went on to speak about his captaincy and said, “But whatever my work was, I did it. I think my combination with the coach is good, and I keep the coach very cool, and I listen to him. We managed to keep all the important players of the opponent team silent and took control of the match.”

Relation with his players

Ajay Thakur opened up about his bond with his players and said, “I always tell them that whatever happens in the match, whether you win or lose, whether you guys are on the mat or you guys get caught or make a wrong catch. I will never tell you in the dugout what you did.

I have always told them that I will tell you about your mistakes in the practice sessions. Because I feel like I don’t have a coach-like relationship with these guys. I have a friendship like a bond with them. You can see this on Instagram. I was also a player, and I understand what the players feel inside.”

Thoughts on Devank Dalal

Ajay Thakur was asked about his thoughts on Devank Dalal ahead of their next game against Bengal Warriorz. He said, “No doubt he is a good player, and I saw him in the Nationals as well, where he played well. He is a very aggressive and powerful raider. So our planning will be different. A raider like Devang will score as much as you plan,”

Gujarat Giants 

What went wrong?

Mohammadreza Shadloui shared his views about what went wrong in the game and said, “In the first 5 minutes, we lose our focus. That’s why they took a six-point lead, and after that, there was no coming back. They were playing on the raid, and it’s very hard for defence because if they don’t come inside, we can’t catch them.

Our raiders also played a little too aggressively because they wanted to come back very soon, but it didn’t happen. The raiders didn’t play according to the strategy, but no problem, it happens. We will try in the next matches. But, they played very well, so congratulations to them.”

Thoughts on Tamil Thalaivas

Gujarat Giants head coach Jaivir Sharma shared his thoughts on the Tamil Thalaivas and said, “We will change the mistakes, our strategy, and planning according to whatever weaknesses and strong points of Tamil Thalaivas. We will make the strategy and plan for the next match.”

Connection with Puneri Paltan

Mohammadreza Shadloui highlighted the fact that the Puneri Paltan raiders did not target him because they knew his strengths. “If you watched closely, they didn’t come for me for even a single point. Pankaj plays over the side. At last, I had no choice. I had to go for a tackle because they didn’t come inside. They have a good team as they have been playing together for four to five seasons.”

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