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Few years back in the IPL, Sourav Ganguly turned out for the Sahara Pune Warriors. While the partisan Bengali crowd from that part of the country was ecstatic, there was this sense of lament that he, like many others should have kept representing the franchisee from his home town.
City based loyalties, as we have observed over the 8 seasons of the aforementioned or in a season each of the ISL or PKL seldom act as a hindrance for athletes being brought and drafted in to other teams. One can’t however deny the appeal which persists with cheering for a local boy representing the city that he has been born and brought up in.
Owners, thus, insist on having a few natives in the squad and the kabaddi franchisee from Delhi is no different. Amit Chhillar from Nizampur was handpicked by them last year and he persists to be an important member of the team. In an exclusive interview with SportsKeeda, he talks about representing the city he calls and the league in general.
Here are the excerpts:
Q. Hello Amit, how special is it to play for Dabang Delhi in the Pro Kabaddi League?
It’s an honour for me, really. I am deeply indebted to our owner Radha Kapoor for selecting me last year. There are so many talented players from the city but they are all playing for other teams; so, I feel really privileged.
Q. Now that it’s been a year, how was your first season with the team?
It was really nice, I mean earlier no one would recognize us but now we are all over the TV. People in general have started taking notice and that’s very heartening. It was a dream for us to be recognised and the league has provided us with a platform to do that. As for our team, I think we did really well last year. With a little luck, we could have made the play-offs.
Q. There has been some tinkering with the team over the last couple of months, you think the squad you have this year is better than last season?
Yes, we have many new players. Also we have a new coach who has been working really hard with us. As you know he used to play really well himself- so that adds to his experience. Over the training camps, he has added a new dimension to our play.
Hopefully starting tomorrow (season opener vs Telegu Titans), that will show on the court.
