Devadiga pleased with the balance of Lucknow’s squad

U.P. Yoddha will need to bring their A Game to the mat on Saturday when they take on an in-form Bengal Warriors side at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Indoor Stadium in Kolkata. The Lucknow-based team currently occupies second spot in Zone B and will head into the fixture knowing that a win against zone-toppers Bengal will see it rise to the top. Rishank Devadiga, who has been Lucknow’s best raider this season, spoke exclusively to prokabaddi.com ahead of his side’s encounter against Bengal. Here are the excerpts from the interview.

How highly do you rate Bengal captain Surjeet Singh as a defender?

I think he is one of the best defenders and one of the best right covers in the league.

As a raider what are your plans against him?

In the last match I scored points by touching him and the other players. So, this time also I will try to do the same and get more touch points.

What are Surjeet’s strengths, according to you?

As a defender he has troubled the raiders coming from the right. He suddenly comes and blocks the raider. So that is his strength.

What do you make of Bengal raider Jang Kun Lee?

He plays very tactically and has a lot of variations as well. He has different skills too. I think he is a complete raider. His strength is the way he gets the bonus points as well as touch points with his toe touches.

Are you satisfied with your team’s performance thus far?

Yes, I am satisfied. In the start, we had to go with a defence combination that was young and inexperienced. So that was a challenge for us but we had a good start. Then Jeeva [Kumar] and Rajesh [Narwal] started organizing the defence and Nitin Tomar and I are handling the raiding department. So the team is well settled and balanced.

Lucknow are in second spot in Zone B, so how is the team’s confidence?

The team has good confidence now and our home leg is also finished. So, there is no pressure on us.