Gujarat Fortunegiants surely didn’t have a good start to the Delhi leg as well. They lost their first match of the Delhi leg against the impeccable Haryana Steelers who on the other hand are racing towards the top of the points table. Haryana Steelers outclassed the Gujarat based side with the all-round performance. However, the defenders of Gujarat Fortunegiants started off well but as the match proceeded, their performance declined as they gave away the points like a free fall. The match started on a good note as both the teams started off and matched each other on the mat. As the scorecard read, they had an equal dominance until the Gujarat defense started losing their guards.
The team got all out in the first half once that showed their incompetence in the game. However, they tried fighting back but were left clueless in front of the raiding Vikash, Prashanth, and Vinay. Vikash was once again a tough question for the opposition which Fortunegiants couldn’t deal with.
Coach Manpreet Singh was disappointed with his side’s defense as he told in the press conference, “today our defense really had a disappointing show and if we would have played better in the starting itself, we could have gone to win the match today. But we failed to do so and that gave them a considerable lead over us which our raiders were unable to cope up with.”
“Initially raiders were doing well but then as the things were planned earlier before the game, it did not fall into place. Our plan actually didn’t get successful as we thought of,” he further added.
Injured Sachin Tanwar could have been handy if the defense was ineffective as he could have recovered points through his raids where the defense failed to deliver. The coach gave news about Sachin’s injury and also updated as to when he would be fit to play for the team.
“Actually Sachin incurred a bit of spasm in Ahmedabad and he is currently recovering from the injury. He has been told to take 2 weeks rest in order to recover fast. Well, I hope he will get better before the next match so he can play for in the coming games,” coach Manpreet Singh said.
The comeback of Sachin can make a difference for the team as he is currently recovering from the spasm he has incurred.
Weak defensive side added more woes to the team’s performance as the team got all out twice in the second half. As the team is trying to work on the strategies to get to the winning terms, the coach strongly backed his players.
“Well, every losing team wants to make a comeback and yes we are still figuring out how to make a comeback as we are working closely with the players. But there is always a phase of hard luck for every one of us, and we are just going through the same now. But we are working hard despite our losses. We will surely coordinate well and make a strong comeback in the next match.”
Fortunegiants are set to face the Bengaluru Bulls in their next game at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex and the coach has a lot to work on with the team in order to defeat the Bengaluru Bulls. He also revealed his plans on how to prevent Pawan Kumar Sehrawat and keep his silence.
“Our agenda would be the same, to improve our defense which actually needs some check now. Bengaluru Bulls is a good team but at the same time, they lost a couple of matches before their last game. Look every team has its ups and downs. And talking about Pawan, if our cover defense does well we will be able to tackle him in order to keep him quiet. And I am sure my defenders will be capable enough to tackle Pawan Sehrawat.”
“Obviously we will do something out of the box but before that, we would sit together in the team to make strategies for that. We may win with twice the number of points that we lost with today and make a strong comeback in the tournament,” Manpreet Singh added.
The team will be pre-determined to do something out of the box in their next game and come out of the losing phase. And as the tournament gets more intense it will be an interesting battle between the teams and see who gets to the top and who goes down.
