Haryana Steelers look to return to winning ways against UP Yoddhas

PUNE: Haryana Steelers will look to get back to winning ways against U.P Yoddhas on Friday in Pro Kabaddi League Season 9 at the Shree Shivchhatrapati Sports Complex, here.

Raiders Meetu and Manjeet put on a good show on the mat despite the Steelers going down against Bengaluru Bulls in the last match.

Meetu, who came on late in the first half, was the best performer on the night for the Steelers, earning a Super 10. The raider is confident that he will be able to repeat his top performance in the next game against UP Yoddhas.

"Our coach had the idea that our opponent would have some strategy to stop me from taking points early on. So, I went late when they were totally focused on Vinay and registered a super 10 which gave me a lot of confidence. My strategy was to make quick raids and gets points for my team and it worked," Meetu said.

"I hope to repeat a similar performance in the next game to earn a win for the Steelers. We all have worked hard in the training and now we just have to execute our plans well against Yoddhas," he added.

Haryana played a tie against UP Yoddhas when they had met earlier this season. In their previous encounter, the Steelers did well to stop Pardeep Narwal. However, Surender Gill managed to score 15 points in the game and Meetu stated that they have planned well to counter the raider this time around.

"UP Yoddhas have players like Surinder Gill and Pardeep Narwal and we have a strategy in place to stop them from taking points against us. Surinder has good height and scored some points against us in the last match. He looks to take a quick bonus and we will try to stop him from doing it against Haryana,"

he said.

While the Steelers' defence faltered against the Bulls in the previous match, Meetu expressed confidence in Mohit and Jaideep to bounce back and help their team get the much-needed win.

"Our defence has been our strength this season so far and we are confident that Mohit and Jaideep will bounce back and will be able to stop Pardeep Narwal once again. Jaideep has been in really good form and we will be banking on him for another top performance," he signed off.