The Haryana Steelers are also among the top 5 teams to have the most tackle points this season and Rahul Sethpal has played a big role in this. The side have racked up 288 points in the 21 games so far. Rahul has contributed just over 22 per cent of the total points and has racked up 65 points in the season so far.
The defender comes from a small village in Panipat and was lured in to the sport seeing other villagers competing. The most interesting point to note is that the right-corner defender tops the charts for the most Super-Tackles with 15 in this season and has a significant lead in the table. This goes on to show how important the defender has been for his side.
He also shares the third spot in the charts for the most High-5s as well with a total of 7 in the current season. A High-5 is when a defender is able to score five or more tackle points in a match.
The Steelers started off their season with a crushing defeat against the UP Yoddhas but managed to come back stronger with a flurry of wins. Looking back at the loss, the defender shared what the coach had told them,” It was the first game, we lost focus, the coach asked us to forget about it and we were able to get back in form. Paid more emphasis on the strategy and the team”.
Starting off on a defeat could derail an entire season for some sides, but Sethpal and the Steelers were intent on coming back stronger with a focus on making sure they prepare properly. “It happens in the sport. It’s not like we did anything wrong in terms of preparations, it was just one of those games where you had a bad day,” said Sethpal.
Sethpal managed to find his form in the first fixture against the Puneri Paltan where he scored six tackle points as his side register a hat-trick of victories. He was able to shine once again with seven tackle-points against the Tamil Thalaivas to register their fifth win of the season in seven games. Following this, the Steelers suffered back-to-back losses despite Sethpal getting seven and four points against the Patna Pirates and Jaipur Pink Panthers, respectively.
The defender went on to reveal that he had a more focused training regimen and aims to continue delivering for his side. He said, “I underwent special training so that I am able to perform well as and when I get the chance to do so. The focus will be to perform better and train better”.
In the thrilling draw against U-Mumba, the defender managed to contribute with five tackle points but was overshadowed by his teammate Jaideep Dahiya who put in a stellar defensive performance with eight points.
Sethpal’s best performance came in against the Telugu Titans where he stole the show with eight tackle-points to help his side secure the win. This is also his best points tally in a single game in the season as well. He went on to match the performance against Patna Pirates.
He also believes that there is a clear improvement in quality from the defenders in comparison to the first few seasons. “As the seasons go by, yes there is a rise in quality in the league. In the first two seasons, the raiders were able to get more points but now the defenders do more work than the raiders due to the improvement in quality,” he added.
“When PKL began, the craze for the sport kicked in and kids also started taking up the sport by participating in the local tournaments. This increased the competition amongst others,” Sethpal concluded.
Now with one more game to go in the league stages, the Haryana Steelers have already secured their spot in the play-offs and are on track to go all-out for their maiden title.
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