U Mumba thrashed Bengaluru Bulls 39-18 at Delhi’s Thyagaraj Sports Complex and has arrived for the four home matches of the STAR Sports ProKabaddi with a sense of cheerfulness and enthusiasm. Almost a month of season 3 would have probably diminished the fitness levels of even the tough as nails professional, but with the business-end of the league approaching, teams with a chance to have a shot at the title, including the defending champion U Mumba, are girding up its loins for the last four days of the league in the city.
It was only six months ago that the Ronnie Screwvala-owned U Mumba celebrated the season 2 win, and there would be pressure upon it to retain the champion tag. Other teams hankering for the title are a revamped Patna Pirates, Puneri Paltans and Bengal Warriors. Telugu Titans is also in with a chance should it beat the top two in U Mumba and Pirates. Virtually out of the running for a semifinal berth, Jaipur Pink Panthers, winner of the inaugural season, faces U Mumba on Sunday at the NSCI, Worli.
Pleased as punchU Mumba coach Edachery Bhaskaran is pleased as punch and is hoping for a near-perfect finish in the home matches. Talking to The Hindu , he said, “I am very satisfied. It has been an excellent performance by my team so far. We confronted coordination-related problems in the first few matches. That’s because the main players were training with the Indian team for the SAF Games. The corner players could not practice with the other members of the team before the first league match. We won the first game, yet there were coordination problems. Usually, it’s during the last 10 days of the training that we try to reach perfection on the coordination aspect among the players. Surender Nada, Mohit Chiller and Vishal Mane were with the Indian camp.”
The defending champion began the second phase of its training from January 4, but Nada, Chiller and Mane left for the India camp on January 19 and returned on January 28. But once they joined the team a day before the start of the league, practiced and played matches, the Tal-mel was back in the team. “We won five matches. Thereafter, four players, including Anup Kumar, left for the SAF Games. But this did not really disturb the team in a big way,” said Bhaskaran.
Rakesh Kumar steps upFormer Pirates’ captain Rakesh Kumar took responsibility of marshalling the side when four players went for the SAF Games at Guwahati. Bhaskaran was all praise for the role played by Rakesh. “He got a chance to play with freedom. In a way, the four players being away for three matches (one match of the Kolkata leg and two matches of the Pune leg) helped the team. Rakesh controlled the team extremely well.”
U Mumba did not opt for Services players, but that’s because it had a settled and balanced team, and also for the fact that it did not know the players it would get out of the lots. Bhaskaran, who has been coach of the Indian team for eight years and also the Army and Services team for 20 years, said: “There were only five players among the Services lot who could have figured in the starting seven. We had a set team of seven and also two very good substitutes. But next time we may select Services players.”
Touching upon the fitness of the players, Bhaskaran said: “I believed that to perform and survive the pro-league, a player has to be in top physical condition because a team has to play 14 games. So, a high level of fitness is essential.”
Published - February 28, 2016 02:53 am IST
