PKL 2019 | Player like Sandeep Narwal is very difficult to handle, says Fazel Atrachali

U Mumba had a sensational evening on the mat as they managed to thrash Jaipur Pink Panthers 47-21 in the second game of the opening evening at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. Apart from their skipper Fazel Atrachali, who scored six tackle points, and raider Abhishek Singh, all-rounder Sandeep Narwal and young cover defender Harendra Kumar were the stars for the champions from the second season. Sandeep was unpredictable as always and scored three tackle points and one raid point but was injured in the second half while attempting to stop Nilesh Salunke. 

Talking about the all-rounder’s unpredictable nature on the mat, skipper Atrachali commented that it is difficult to control a player like Sandeep and the presence of Surinder Singh makes it even tougher.

“One player like Sandeep Narwal is very difficult to handle as a captain plus I have Surinder Singh to think about too. So I do work hard but this is good for the team. As I need Sandeep to raid, I ask him and he does that,” the Iranian said during the post-match press conference. 

Speaking about the all-rounder, assistant coach Upendra Singh said, “Every player has a style of his own. If you try to control it too much he won’t be able to perform so it’s important to control him sometimes but if we try too much, he won’t be able to perform. Sandeep is okay and he can even play now if he is asked to. He will be okay by tomorrow.”

Abhishek was the star performer in the raiding department and he went on to score 13 points in the game. However, his most successful raid was the last raid of the game in which he bagged a total of four points which took the winning margin to 26 points. When asked about the last raid of the match, Abhishek said that he had no idea about how many points he had scored till then.

“We didn’t perform well against Delhi in the last match so our confidence went down but in this match, it was the coach’s and skipper’s plans to let us play freely and aggressively. We played according to the game plan and we performed well and hope to do the same in future also,” the young raider mentioned. 

“I didn't even know how many points I had till then, so I had just told Fazel bhai that I am going to decide the raid and he gave me a go-ahead.”