Haryana Steelers' coach Manpreet Singh discloses why Siddharth Desai didn't play against Patna Pirates in PKL 2023
Patna Pirates broke Haryana Steelers’ five-match winning streak after beating them by a comfortable 46-33 margin at Noida Indoor Stadium on Friday (December 29). Haryana put in a below-par performance both in the offense and defense. Interestingly, once again, Siddharth Desai didn’t feature in the match.
After missing out in the clash against Gujarat and Telugu Titans, Desai played against Tamil Thalaivas but managed to secure just a point before subbing off in the 18th minute. He wasn’t part of the seven against Patna Pirates clash on Friday.
Following the conclusion of the game while addressing the media, coach Manpreet Singh revealed that Siddharth has been recovering from an injury and is likely to play the next game.
“When the team is doing well, you don’t want to risk your main raider to play as he wasn’t completely fit," Manpreet Singh said. "He is still recovering and we thought not to risk him playing in this game. Hopefully, he will be fit to play the next game.”
Haryana played with Vinay and K Prapanjan as their main raiders. While Vijay did manage to secure a super 10, the latter failed to make an impact.
"My job is to motivate players and give them the right training" - Manpreet Singh
The Steelers lost their third game of the season on Friday. They have had a pretty good season so far and would be looking to make a comeback. Coach Manpreet Singh shed light on how he aims to motivate the players to help the team get back to winning ways.
“My job is to motivate players and give them the right training. I will try to improve their performance and bring the best out of them. By hook or crook, you have to get things done,” Manpreet Singh said.
“If a child makes a mistake, parents don’t throw him out of the house. We make mistakes but improve. We will make them learn in whichever language they understand and hopefully, we will try to do better in the next game. He is still recovering and we thought not to risk him playing in this game,” Manpreet Singh added.
Haryana Steelers are set to play their next match against Jaipur Pink Panthers on January 3 at Noida Indoor Stadium, Noida.