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The Haryana Steelers held Puneri Paltan to a tie in what was an edge-of-the-seat thriller at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune on Friday in the ninth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League 2022.
The scoreline read 26 apiece courtesy of a terrific comeback by the Steelers in the second half of the contest. With nine seconds left on the clock, Meetu went in for the final raid of the match, which was a do-or-die raid as well.
A dash by Sanket Sawant ended matters for him but to the defender's dismay, he used far too much force and his momentum took him out of bounds as well, resulting in the match ending in a draw.
Answering a question posed by a reporter from Sportskeeda in the post-match press conference, Manpreet spoke about how the side had made special preparations against Aslam Inamdar, who was the leader of the Puneri Paltan raiding unit.
The Maharashtra-born raider had scored 58 points in the tournament prior to the match and was expected to play a huge role in the contest in front of a home crowd. However, the Steelers' executed their plans to perfection and kept the ace raider quiet throughout the contest. Aslam finished with just three points in the contest.
Manpreet Singh revealed Aslam's strengths and weaknesses, branding him as a speedy raider who lacks upper body strength. He praised Aslam's ability to pick up bonus points and his success against defenders who targeted his lower body.
"Aslam Inamdar is a speedy raider but he does not have power. His upper body is weak. If you look to tackle Aslam on his upper body, he does not score. If you try to tackle him on his thighs, he will score points. He picks up the bonus really well."
"He does not go for a lot of hand touches" - Manpreet Singh on Aslam Inamdar's raiding style
Manpreet went on to say that Aslam does not attempt a lot of hand touches and instead relies on the bonus points. Due to this, the coach has instructed his corners and covers to play a high line of defense to ensure that Aslam does not wreak havoc.
"If the corners and covers play a high line of defense, Aslam will not be able to succeed since he does not go for a lot of hand touches. So our plan was to play a high line of defense and we planned accordinly to keep him quiet."
The Steelers have three wins, four losses and a tie from their eight games and have just about started to turn their campaign around after a string of poor performances in their initial games.
