Interview with Rakesh Kumar "Foreign Players are the Key Element of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi 2015"
Patna Pirates will play their first match in Star Sports Pro Kabaddi against U Mumba on Monday. U Mumba won both of their matches they have played and shown very good defense and raiding techniques.
Rakesh Kumar, who himself was the best raider of the team during last season. The Patna Pirates skipper spoke to SportsKeeda ahead of their first match about their strategy and their team strength.
Here are the Excerpts of the Interview:
Q. You have your first match against U Mumba tomorrow, who impressed everyone with their defense with a victory over last year champion. Have you created any strategy to penetrate their defense?
We have watched all their match videos from season 1 and analyzed their performance. Our raiders have studied their defense pattern and will come out strongly against them.
Q. Unlike the first day U Mumba took majority points today against a Bengaluru Bulls and registered a big victory. Have you created any special strategy to defend their raids?
We have also signed some exciting defenders in our team who are ready for opposition raiders. Like last year Suresh & Girish will lead our defense for the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi 2015.
Q. Do you want to say anything about the performance of your foreign players during practice?
We were the only team last year who played all its 3 foreign players and we still believe that foreign player element adds a lot at the league success level. We have Taedeok Eom who is also the captain of South Korea and two players from Pakistan- Wasim Sajjad and Nasir Ali in our squad.
Q. Would you like to say anything about the new young players, who joined your team this year? Can you tell us who can start their Star Sports Pro Kabaddi career tomorrow against U Mumba?
We have exciting young talent in our squad who are ready to take the Star Sports Pro Kabaddi challenge. Some strong players like Amit Hooda, Deepak Narwal, Abhinandan, Varinder, Pradeep to name a few.
Q. What are your hopes from this second season of Star Sports Pro Kabaddi? What is your message to the fan’s of Patna Pirates?
We are committed to provide an exciting game of Kabaddi to all its viewers and especially Patna Pirates supporters who loved us so much last season. We wish that the love grows even more this season and with every season.
Q. You have seen the game of almost all the other teams this season. Which team you think will be the most difficult opposition for you?
All the 8 teams have worked hard in making their team strong. So it will be unfair to one particular team, we are looking at one game at a time and not one team at a time. All the 8 teams are tough for us and we have done our pre-season preparatory camp accordingly.