PKL 2019 | U Mumba will give 100% to win eliminator game, states Fazel Atrachali

As the league stage is now over the Top 6 teams are moving into the Playoffs. Both the eliminators will be played on 14th October in the Transsatidia Arena, Ahmedabad. After the first game between UP Yoddha and Bengaluru Bulls, U Mumba will take on Haryana Steelers in later in the evening. Both the teams have faced each other twice and have won one encounter each.

U Mumba have won 12 out of their 22 matches and scored 72 points in the first round. Mumba managed to win against Haryana even when their main raiders weren’t playing the match. Ajinkya Kapre scored nine points on his debut whereas both corner defenders Fazel Atrachali and Sandeep Narwal scored more than five points. They are in good form as they are unbeaten in the last four matches and will hope to maintain that.   

“During the league stage, if we lose one match, we know we have a chance to go back and work on our mistakes to improve. Tomorrow’s match is a Do-or-Die situation, if we lose, our season is over and we go back home. Haryana is a strong team and they too will come with a plan to limit us but as a team we are confident and are taking one step at a time. We will give our 100% and aim to win the match,” U Mumba skipper Atrachali said before the eliminator.

Haryana Steelers, despite losing their last match, will look ahead as the coach mentioned that they weren’t at their best because it was their last match. Haryana Steelers finished their league stage with 71 points by winning 13 out of their 22 matches. Their raiding department has done well courtesy of equal contributions from Vikas Kandola, Prashanth Kumar Rai and Vinay. The trio has helped the team give consistent performances. Under skipper Dharmaraj Cheralathan’s guidance, the defence has played patiently and done well. The team will focus on positives and will hope to emerge winners from this match.

“We have had a good league stage, the team has performed well and built on their strengths, which brings a good balance to our team. We are focused on our match against U Mumba and have won a match and lost the other one against them. So, for the Eliminator we will be looking to execute a strategy based on our learnings from the previous games of this season. As a team, our ultimate aim is to emerge as champions of Season 7.” Haryana captain Cheralathan mentioned.