An upbeat and buoyant U Mumba team will be looking to carry on their momentum from the opening encounter when they face off against Jaipur Pink Panthers in the 6th Vivo Pro Kabaddi League in Chennai on Wednesday.
Settling down early in their match against the tough Puneri Paltans and holding the upper hand throughout the match, a couple of late reversals saw U Mumba sharing points at the finish.
The Asian Games gold medal-winning coach, Gholamreza Mazandarani was satisfied with the overall team performance in the opener and is confident that the team will continue to fare better as a cohesive unit as the tournament progresses.
“For the first game of the season, it was a good start, but the result could have definitely been better. Most of the players in our team are new with this being their first season of the PKL. I think the team’s performance is going to keep getting better with each match,” said Mazandarani.
Of course, much of the coach’s satisfaction and confidence will stem from the powerful performance from raider Siddharth Desai one of the two players from Maharashtra, who, while making his debut, effortlessly donned the role of the main raider, scoring 14 points from 20 raids.
With Captain Fazel Atrachali manning the defence along with Vice-Captain Dharmaraj Cheralathan, both tallying 4 tackle points each in the opener, U Mumba will be looking for a stronger performance from their defence to bolster the performance against the Jaipur team and build on the positive start.
“We will need to change a few things around in our next match. And we have a new strategy in place for our game against Jaipur,” added Mazandarani.
U Mumba have played the Jaipur team on 12 occasions and hold the edge, having won 6 matches, lost 5, with 1 ending in a draw.
With the youthful offence of U Mumba wasting no time in sprinting off the block and the experienced defence capable of holding their own against all opposition, the U Mumba team looks well equipped to drive home the advantage and try to improve on their win record against Jaipur.