After defeating Tamil Thalaivas 37-29 in Pro Kabaddi League Season 8, Haryana Steelers will face off against Puneri Paltans on Friday.
It was a star-making performance from all-rounder Ashish Narwal in the previous match, who earned 16 points against Tamil Thalaivas to help his team pick up their third consecutive win and climb up to the 2nd spot in the points table.
Speaking on his heroics in the match, Ashish said that being allowed to play freely by coach Rakesh Kumar helped him in giving his best on the match day.
"I had thought before the start of the match that I want to do well. I had no pressure on me, and our coach had told me to play freely and go for tackle whenever I see an opportunity. He had asked me to catch a raider whenever I can. Because I had no pressure on me, I was able to perform well," Ashish, who earned 13 raid points and 3 tackle points said.
"I felt quite good after completing my first Super 10 of the season. But the best bit was that we were able to win the match. That is what matters the most. The rest does not matter as winning every match is important for us," he further added.
Ashish also went on to reveal how captain Vikash Kandola and coach Rakesh Kumar told him to try to get the points in the final raid of the match to extend the winning margin, keeping the points table in mind.
"Skipper Vikash Kandola and our coach told me that I must try and get all the points in the final raid. Because we did not want to give the opposition even a single point and win the match by as big a margin as we can," Ashish, who finished the match with a Super Raid, said.
Now, with the Haryana Steelers' rising level of threat in the competition, fans are becoming confident that they could go on to make it to the finals. On being asked about the same, Ashish said that every team is good in the tournament and things can still change as the season progresses.
"It is very difficult to say if we are guaranteed to make it to the finals. Because every team has been performing well this season and every match is going right down to the wire. There is a very little gap between the teams in the points table," he said.
"But our team has been performing well. The raiding and defence are working together. And if we continue to play like this, we can win all our upcoming games," he added.
On being asked about the team's preparation for the next match against Puneri Paltans, Ashish said: "We have trained a lot for the match against Puneri Paltans who are a very strong team. The best quality of our team is the unity among all the players.
"All the juniors and seniors always communicate with each other, we have fun, we train hard and we help out each other. Our aim is to continue to play as we have been doing over the past few weeks and we will try our best to get our fourth consecutive win," he signed off.
( With inputs from ANI )
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