Every team feels pressure while facing Patna Pirates: Neeraj Kumar

The three-time champion team could not win the title by just one point last season.

The new season of Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) is about to begin. Three-time champion Patna Pirates is also busy in its preparations. The Patna team had retained its core group before the auction. Among them was defender Neeraj Kumar who has been with the franchise since season 7. He has been one of Pirates best defenders in the last 3 seasons and the franchise would hope that he can continue to perform as per expectations of the team in the upcoming season. Neeraj Kumar talked to Khel Now in an exclusive interview and revealed how he and the team is preparing for season 9. 

On his preparations for the new season 

There are only around 5 weeks for the start of the new season of PKL, so Neeraj is also sweating it out before the tournament, when asked about how he is preparing for the upcoming tournament he said, "We are in the camp for the last 10 days. Our trainer is helping us in our fitness and we are also focusing on improving our strength. We are also trying to improve our groundwork". 

On how the defense is preparing for the new season

Patna Pirates defense was the best amongst all the teams in the tournament in in the last season so there wasn't any surprises when the team showed faith in the same set of defenders for the new season, "We did well as a defensive unit in the last season, this season we are looking to improve on our mistakes from last season and perform even better", Neeraj Kumar revealed how the team would look to improve in defense. 

He further said, "it's a team game and hence coordination is very important in defense. If a single player is scoring all the points in defense and the team is unable to win, it doesn't benefit the team but if the defense plays in sync and each of get some points and the team wins, that is always better for the team". 

On playing for Patna Pirates 

Patna Pirates has won the titles three times and they were the runners up in the last season, when asked about if he feels the pressure of playing for a successful franchise, Neeraj said "the pressure is not on us, the pressure is on the opposition that they are playing against us". 

On missing the trophy last year, Neeraj said, "We were disappointed to lose the final last year, for sometime we didn't know how to react, we lost the game because of some misunderstanding and we felt bad that after playing so well in the whole tournament we lost the final, this time we would look to change it around." 

On the defense strategies against individual raiders 

PKL has some of the best raiders which includes Pawan Kumar Sherawat, Pardeep Narwal and Naveen Kumar. These three have been the backbone of their respective sides, when asked if the defense strategies for these players are different or in the same way, Neeraj said, "strategies vary according to different raiders, they all come in with different skills so we have to prepare accordingly. We can't prepare in the same way for every raider."

On his partnership with Mohammadreza Chiyaneh last season 

Neeraj Kumar and Iranian defender Mohammadreza Chiyaneh were Patna Pirates' best defenders last season. Chiyaneh won the best defender award in his very first season of the competition. On being asked about playing alongside the Iranian, Neeraj said, "He has got all the abilities a defender must have, has got a good ankle hold and he plays an aggressive brand of Kabaddi. So we too try to support him whenever he goes for a tackle". 

On fans being allowed back in the stadium 

Fans have been allowed in the stadiums for season 9, and Neeraj is happy to see them back, "it is a completely different environment when the fans are there in the stadium cheering for us. Their cheers lift the team up and motivates us to play more freely and enjoy our game". 

When asked about who he thinks is the best defender according to him, he revealed that he likes Manjeet Chhillar as the best defender in PKL.