He didn’t featured in the first four games for Haryana Steelers this season due to injury but ever since he made his return into the mat after getting fully recovered, Vikash Kandola is on a roll and his superb raiding skills has turned out to be a blessing for the side as they have won six of the last seven games they played after that.
It is because of his charismatic style of offensive play that Haryana’s shattered defense has also fallen into place and is contributing well to the team success but despite that too the star raider is not yet satisfied and feels there is a lot more he can improve in his game to be more effective in the coming matches.
Talking about his performance in the season so far Kandola said, “My preparations are very good as I am fully fit and ready to roar in the mat. But I am still looking to improve further in the upcoming matches to be more effective.”
On being asked about what all areas he needs to improve, the star player said that he has committed a lot of errors in the raids which he is well aware of and his focus now is to make sure that it doesn’t repeat further.
“I want to rectify the mistake that I have committed in the previous games and that is my focus point. Also, I need to work more on collecting bonus points because that is one area where I feel, I’m not doing good. I need to be more consistent.”
Discussing the team’s performance, he said that after a disappointing start the team has finally found the mojo back and is now working towards maintaining consistency.
“The team is performing well now especially after wobbles in the first few matches. The return of Prashant Rai along with me has helped the side and the result of which is that now we are winning matches. We are collecting more regular points in the raids and that is helping because until the time raiders don’t score, defenders can’t alone win the matches for you.”
Talking about playing under Rakesh Kumar, who made his coaching debut this season, Vikash was full of praise for the former Indian skipper and says that his experience of the game has been a blessing for all the players in the dugout.
“It is a wonderful experience working with Rakesh sir, he is such an experienced player and is a very cool minded person. Apart from being a brilliant teacher he never let us take any sort of pressure in the game.”
“Even if we get tackled in an attempt to go for a difficult point, he is always there to motivate saying ‘Koi Nahi, Agli baar ayega’ (It’s okay, it will come next time).”
Like every other player participating in the league, Kandola’s dream also is to win the Pro Kabaddi League trophy but he is well aware that the competition is still wide open and to reach the goal, the side can’t afford to lose the grip at any point. “Our initial plan is to top the table and then play the final to win the trophy.
And we are preparing according to it but since the competition is wide open so it is too early to predict anything. But we will continue to keep raising our performance and try to win as many games as possible.”