Chennai, Sep 30 As Gujarat Giants returned to winning ways, registering their second victory in PKL 12 after overcoming UP Yoddhas in a hard-fought contest in the opening game of the Chennai leg. Skipper Mohammadreza Shadloui showed why he’s regarded as one of the best in the business with eight points on the night, including four touch points and four tackle points.
Reflecting on the win, the all-rounder shared, "We changed our strategy and played very well today. Rakesh handled the raiding, while I wanted to put my focus on defence and handle defence. If we keep playing like this, we have more chances to win."
Echoing those sentiments, head coach Jaivir Sharma added, "Some of the matches we’ve lost this season have been by a very close margin. So, we analysed those games and worked on the things where we were falling slightly short. The hard work paid off today.
“Today’s victory has motivated the whole team. There is a lot of motivation in our team and our target is to win the remaining matches. We lost matches because of a few mistakes. Now, we have corrected those mistakes, and we will not let such a silly mistakes happen again.”
Shadloui also thanked the fans in Chennai for the support, while looking forward to Gujarat Giants’ next challenge against U Mumba on Thursday (October 2nd).
“Thank you to the fans who supported me. Tonight was a good night for us but I am not happy yet. We should focus on the next match to try and get a win. In the last game, I made a mistake. I accept it. But this time is different. We will show them”, he reckoned.
Shedding some light on his rivalry with the U Mumba captain Sunil Kumar, Shadloui concluded, “Sunil is a good captain and a good player. In the last match, that was the first time I was playing the tie-breaker, but this match is going to be different. I am coming for revenge."
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