In the diminutive and young Vikash Khandola, Haryana Steelers and Indian kabaddi have a gem

Haryana Steelers lost their first ever Pro Kabaddi match on Sunday, against 2015 champions U Mumba, but not before making their opponents sweat over it. U Mumba won by the narrowest of margins, 29-28, to open their account in the table, but the Steelers did enough to prove that they will be a very competitive team in their debut season.

After the match, Haryana coach Ranbir Singh Khokhar said that although his team lost, he was “particularly impressed by our young players who equalled the experienced players in terms of technical skills”.

The youngest of those was the 19-year-old Vikash Khandola, who ended up being adjudged the player of the match.

Khandola bagged six of the 16 raid points won by his team in the match. This was the highest individual raid-point tally in the Haryana team, a record he shared with his vice-captain Wazir Singh, who is seven years his senior. In fact, Khandola’s tally of six raid points in the match was three more than he had accumulated over four games last season, when he played for Dabang Delhi.

New season, new game

Hailing from a village in the Jind district of Haryana, Khandola was thrilled when he was picked by the Steelers this season, for Rs 15.2 lakh. “When I got to know that I was going to play for a Haryana-based team, I was very happy because it is my home state,” he told The Field.

“After the disappointment of last season, I was determined to do well this year,” he said. “I was determined to put in the hard work and improve my performance. Coach saab has made me go through the drills, especially in the training camp we had prior to the start of the season. He has asked me to work on exercises to improve my speed and the hand touch, which is my preferred raid move.”

Khandola isn’t the tallest of kabaddi players. He stands at a modest five feet and seven inches. However, he makes up for it with his agility. This was evident in all six of his successful raids on Sunday. The most impressive one was when he avoided a Super Tackle, involving three defenders, and scored a point with a lightning-quick hand touch to send U Mumba’s left corner Kuldeep Singh out.

Coach Khokhar expects more of the same from Khandola as the season progresses. “We are focusing on his speed and strength conditioning,” Khokhar told The Field. “We are also working on his agility and movement on the mat. He is young and he still has to grow as a player. He needs a lot more experience, but we are confident he will give his 100% whenever he plays.”

Title target

Khandola was part of the Sports Authority of India teams that won the kabaddi junior nationals for the last two straight years. He was also part of the Indian team that won the Asian Junior Kabaddi Championship in 2016. While the Haryana boy hopes to play for the senior Indian team soon, he has his blinkers on with just one target in sight for the next three months – the Pro Kabaddi title.

“My target is just to gel well with my teammates and help the team win,” he said. “It’s not about how many points I score, I just want to help my team win.”

“The target for Vikash this season is to observe each and every team he plays against and strategise how he has to approach every game,” the coach said.

Khandola has age, and the stamina and endurance that comes with it, on his side, and Khokhar hopes to make the most of it this long season, spanning three months. While squad rotation will be essential to last the length of the season, Khandola “will be played maximum”, said Khokhar, adding that the team has prepared a schedule for him in order to utilise him efficiently. “We will have to take care that he doesn’t injure himself,” he said.

The Steelers have some experienced raiders in Deepak Kumar Dahiya, Surjeet Singh and Wazir Singh in their squad, but it’s clear that Khandola features in a big way in their plans for this season. If they can maintain him well through the season, there’s no reason why the young lad can’t end up among the league’s top raiders.