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"Pardeep super tackle nahi ginta, woh sirf Super 10 ginta hai," (Pardeep doesn't count super tackles, he only counts his Super 10s), beamed an ecstatic Ram Mehar Singh after his side, the Patna Pirates, saw off a stiff challenge from Zone A strugglers Dabang Delhi in Tuesday's Pro Kabaddi Season 5 encounter.
Once again, the star of the show was raider Pardeep Narwal, who recorded yet another brilliant performance, finishing the match with 14 points to his name, which included a monster four-point raid on his very first venture into the Delhi court. However, he was brought down by the Delhi defence twice in super tackle situations, but the coach was completely unperturbed by those.
"These things happen," he said, showcasing his incredible faith in his 20-year-old skipper and talisman, who has continued to set to the scoring charts on fire this season. Singh revealed after the match that prior to games, he has absolutely no instructions for his star raider and that he is given the license to do whatever he wants.
"Pardeep does whatever he wants," stated the Patna coach. "He is just an incredible force of nature. He doesn't plan, he doesn't think before going to raid. He simply goes with the flow and does what comes naturally to him."
"Even we don't know what he will do next, then how are the opposition defenders supposed to know?" he joked, sending everyone at the post-match press conference into peals of laughter.
However, when asked about his team's relatively weaker defence and the stuttering form of cover defender Vishal Mane, his smile did fade away a little. "Today, our defence did well. Jaideep was very good and we were able to control the Delhi raiders for a long period of time," he said.
"Vishal has also done well for us but given the fact that he is our team's senior-most defender and has played all five seasons in the PKL, fans are naturally bound to have high expectations from him," said the coach.
Pardeep, who was his usual quiet self after the match, removed the bandage from his had that he has been wearing for the last few games, when asked about his injury. "Mai vaapis aa gaya hoon," (I'm back), he roared, with a glint in his eye.
Singh expanded, "We were a little cautious with his injury in the previous match, but now his wound has healed completely. Pardeep is once again at his 100% and raring to go."
The Pirates will be up against the Gujarat Fortunegiants up next and with their leader back to his 100%, they will fancy their chances against their Zone A rivals.
