Dabang Delhi K.C. head coach Krishan Hooda lashed out at his team after their embarrassing loss against Bengaluru Bulls in the first Eliminator at the ‘Dome, NSCI SVP Stadium’, Mumbai on Tuesday. The reigning champions were thrashed 56-24 in the knockout game and Hooda stated it looked like his team didn’t know how to play in the one-sided contest.
Delhi’s players could not find any kind of momentum in the match as the Bulls dominated from the word go. Naveen Kumar scored eight points whereas Vijay Malik added six but the rest of the team could not contribute much to the score.
Commenting on his team’s performance, Krishan Hooda said at the post-match press conference: “It is hard to explain. I have never seen such a game in my entire life. Look at how the corners played. It looked like they did not how to play. Look at the covers as well. They have so much experience. This is not the way one performs. It was a very bad performance. I am not happy at all.”
On the other hand, the team’s captain Naveen Kumar feels the team shouldn’t have qualified for the playoff stages if they take into account their dismal performance in the Eliminator.
“If you see only today’s match, then you can say we should not have qualified for playoffs. We could not match the expectations. We had such a good defense. We have never played so bad. Not a single player could give his 100%. You can say it is bad luck.”
Meanwhile, the defending champions had gotten off to a good start in the ninth edition of the Pro Kabaddi League but they could not carry the same momentum. However, they were able to sneak into the top six to make it to the playoffs after a tie against Bengal Warriors in their last league stage match.
