Telugu Titans CEO's ambitious journey with the team

CHENNAI: Trinadh Reddy, who transitioned from serving in the Indian Navy and the Andhra Cricket Association to becoming the CEO of Telugu Titans in Pro Kabaddi League (PKL), relentlessly strives to propel the team toward glory. In a chat with DT Next, Trinadh Reddy, who currently serves his fifth year as CEO for Telugu Titans, talks about his expectations this season, auction strategy, growth of PKL and more. Excerpts:

What drives you to take up this role and travel with the team for the matches?

Once I commit myself to something, I feel the need to give my best. And from the place where I come from, every boy starting from the age of five starts playing kabaddi. So, that is one of the main reasons I moved from cricket to kabaddi and shifted my focus towards this sport. And the decision of travelling with the team for matches came as I wanted to motivate the team. Players come from different parts of the country and especially from the rural villages of northern states. I want to be there with them to motivate everyone.

What was your auction strategy coming into this season?

We have never conducted all India trials to select youngsters. But this season, we started scouting youngsters across with the New Young Player (NYP) Category trials. Around 850 players came to Hyderabad for trials and we have filtered 21 out of them. From that four of them we managed to put in the NYP category and another four players in the nominated category. So, we wanted a leader who can guide the youngsters. We want to come out of that last spot on the table. Atleast if not this season, in two years’ time, these youngsters will step up and make good progress for the team.

How is building the team around Pawan Sehrawat going on so far and what made the team to announce him as the captain?

It’s an everyday learning process, our youngsters are working hard and the experienced players like Parvesh and Pawan are giving them the space to improve their game. It’s an obvious decision to make Pawan the captain. We wanted someone who can lead the youngsters from the front with his experience. And we cannot forget that he led the Indian side to win the Asian games earlier this year.

How do you see the league growing and the increase in purse value of teams in PKL?

When the league started, the purse value was somewhere around two lakhs. Now it has gone upto five crores. The players are giving their best, and as they improve their game on the mat, the price value will automatically improve. Same price range for all players will not improve the competitiveness among players. This gives a chance for youngsters to look at star players going for crores in the auction, and that will boost them to push their game even further.

What do you make of the poor start for Telugu Titans this season and what do you expect as the league moves forward?

We still have some games to go in the season. The team lacked coordination among the defence side in the earlier games. But we could now see youngsters stepping in. I wouldn’t exceed my expectations and say we will be playing in the finals. But I’d be hoping for a much better result henceforth.