Fazel turned my kabaddi career around in 2017, says Ranjit

Chennai

The Kanniyakumari native was largely confined to the Telugu Titans bench in the first couple of years and didn’t find buyers the following two PKL seasons. However, since forcing his way into the Gujarat Fortunegiants set-up three years back, Ranjit has been an ever present in the league, usually operating as a secondary raider.

In an Instagram conversation on the Goal Quiz handle, the Postal Department employee revealed how Iran national side captain and his former teammate Fazel Atrachali gave him the breakthrough in his career. Left-corner defender Fazel was one of Gujarat’s captains during its debut campaign in Pro Kabaddi.

“For the first 11 round-robin games in Season 5, I couldn’t even make it to the matchday squad. I put in the hard yards in the training sessions, but never got a chance. I felt so hurt that I thought of leaving the team and going home,” said Ranjit, who made the move to the Delhi franchise in 2018.

“A lot of people asked me why I wasn’t playing. Kalaiarasan, whose is from Tirunelveli, was my teammate at GFG. He spoke to Fazel about my situation. The Iranian then requested Gujarat head coach Manpreet Singh to hand me a start. Only after that, I became a regular member in PKL. That was the turning point in my career and Fazel played a huge role,” added Ranjit, collector of 341 points in the league.

“Sometimes, Indian players just try to hold onto their spots in the starting seven. But that isn’t the case with foreigners.” In the past three Pro Kabaddi editions, Ranjit primarily played second fiddle to main raiders – Sachin Tanwar at Gujarat and Naveen Kumar at Delhi.

But, he is optimistic about establishing himself as a lead raider in the upcoming seasons.

“Only if a player gets support, he will develop. If I am allowed to raid freely in the future, I will perform better. I will keep working hard and I am confident that I will be a top raider for a PKL team one day,” said Ranjit.