Pro Kabaddi League Season 5: Exclusive interview with Patna Pirates defender Vishal Mane

Vishal Mane 

Offence can win you matches, but defence leads you to championships - the adage may be a popular one in football but stands true for India’s homegrown sport, kabaddi as well. Vishal Mane, is one such defender, who on his day, can just take a command of the proceedings on the kabaddi mat with his mighty blocks and tackles to stop the most talented raiders in their tracks.

His numbers stand as a testament to his skills and ability, with 93 tackle points from the 57 matches that he has played. In light of the upcoming season of Pro Kabaddi League, Sportskeeda got in touch with Vishal Mane for an exclusive interview in Mumbai. Here are some interesting excerpts: 

First three seasons with U Mumba, the fourth one with the Bengal Warriors and now the fifth edition with Patna Pirates... How difficult is it to adjust yourself to a new team? 

Well, I’ll be honest, it’s not easy, to begin with, it takes the initial period of 15-20 days to gel with every player in the team since each one comes in with a different skill set, game plan and strategy. Slowly, when we start practising together, the coordination seems to come to the fore since we become more familiar with one another.

At U Mumba, in the three years, everything just ran very smoothly, it was so well set that if you recall the old team to play again, we (in the likes of Mohit, Surender, Jeeva) will be most comfortable. Speaking about Bengal, the fact that it was easy with that team was because there were quite a few players from Maharashtra who used to play together for the same company BPCL and hence knew each other’s game well. 

How are the training and preparations going on for the defending champions Patna Pirates, who will definitely be aiming for the hat-trick this time around?

At the moment, all the players are focusing on their personal fitness, trying to do away with any injury concerns or any other niggles. For instance, I’m working out at Pro Sport in Mumbai because it is going to be a long season this time around. From the 25^th of July onwards, the full-fledged training camp will be underway in Greater Noida where the entire team will be together before the season, and our preparation during that period will prove to be critical. 

As for the title, the team will surely be gunning for it from the word go, primarily that is why the new team has been chosen! We have been entrusted with the task to take it forward, and hence we’ll try and replay the franchise’ faith by giving our cent percent on the mat.

How is the captaincy situation at Patna Pirates, being a senior player, do you think you should lead the side? 

It’s too early to talk about the captaincy. But I always keep this one thing in mind when it comes to captaincy, which has been said by Anup Kumar, that, when we are playing on the mat each of the 7 players is a captain in himself so if anyone has any point to put forth, he should come ahead and do so. Hence, captaincy is shared responsibility and if I am given the charge, I will look to lead in a similar manner. 

Which player are you keen to play alongside at the Patna Pirates? 

No doubt about that, Pardeep Narwal! Well, the young gun has been a sensation across kabaddi circles for the last couple of years, plus he had a fabulous stint at the World Cup in October last year, so I’m keen to share the dressing room with him. In the defence, I think Sachin Shingade is a talented player and we’ll be able to stage a good partnership in the tournament. 

What is your opinion on the staggering price gaps between players with some going for more than 90 lakhs while a few just fetching 12 lakhs?

With this edition, the season is going to be so long that I think there will be more players who will lose their sheen in terms of losing themselves to injury. Because, they are not just playing in PKL, but also the Nationals, State matches, Indian camp matches and also company matches. Maybe some think that the money is enough, but the players are actually playing at their own risk level, they will give their 100% but if they suffer from an injury then their career could also go for a toss.

Thus, if they get a better monetary compensation, they will feel secure about the fact that they can deal with unforeseen injury scenarios better. The solution to this problem is that the teams should be given an increased amount in their purse, probably 10 crores to buy the players. 

Which team do you think has built a strong squad from the auctions?

Bengaluru Bulls may have started off slowly but they signed the right players at the auctions in the likes of Rohit Kumar for the attack and the young Ajay Kumar from Services. In addition to that, they retained Ashish who is also quite talented, thus I think they will provide a real challenge in the matches. 

What is the one thing you still miss about U Mumba?

The bonding! On and off the mat, the bond that we had developed between ourselves was something that I truly cherish and will always do. Moreover, I’m a local Mumbai boy, so when we used to play in the city, the sight of seeing excited fans thronging to NSCI to cheer us was a completely different feeling. 

One key thing you learnt from your time with the Bengal Warriors?

Well, with U Mumba I had always seen the upside of the sport, but with Bengal Warriors I experienced what it feels like to be in the wrong end of the points table. I learnt how to deal with losses, how to pick myself up for the next outing and sustain the motivation even when results did not go our way. 

We saved the best for the last and asked Vishal, who is his idol in the sport of kabaddi...

Manjeet Chillar; the man is phenomenal. What I admire about him is the fact that he never gives up even when the situation seems out of hand. In fact, he thrives under pressure and time and again, bails his team out of trouble which is why I look up to him!