PKL 2019 | 5Ws and 1H – U Mumba

07/17/2019

Despite some consistent performances in the first six editions of the league, U Mumba have won the title only once. After getting beaten in the playoffs last season, the team from the Financial Capital of India will want to go a step further to bag the crown in the upcoming edition of the league.

How they performed in the previous season?

With the emergence of the new raider star in Siddharth Desai in season 6 and comeback of Iranian left corner, Fazel Atrachali, in the team, U Mumba was touted as the favourites to lift the trophy after the first week of the tournament. Desai gave them a dream start and was the much-needed X factor to the squad. Atrachali led the team’s defence really well which already had players like Surender Singh, Dharmaraj Cheralathan and others.

However, an injury to Desai affected their performance and they failed to go into the playoffs as the table-toppers from Zone A. They ended second on the table after Gujarat Fortunegiants with 86 points from 22 games and this gave them only one chance in which they lost to UP Yoddha and bowed out off the tournament.

Who are the star players for U Mumba?

As discussed earlier, Iranian defender Atrachali is going to be the star attraction for the team this season. He will try to continue for the team from where he had left in the previous season of the tournament. With the experience and power that he has, he can single-handedly destroy any opposition raiding unit. The team will depend on him to take over the responsibility of being the captain in this season as well.

Atrachali will have able support on the other side of the mat in the form of all-rounder Sandeep Narwal who has already made it clear that defence will be his focus but that doesn’t mean he will not be seen as a raider if the team needs him. Atrachali and Sandeep will be the two players to watch out for in the Mumba camp in the upcoming season for sure.

U Mumba Squad:

Fazel Atrachali, Rajaguru Subramanian, Arjun Deshwal, Anil, Gaurav Kumar, Mohit Balyan, Surender Singh, Sandeep Narwal, Rohit Baliyan, Dong Geon Lee, Athul MS, Ajinkya Rohidas Kapre, Young Chang Ko, Abhishek Singh, Vinoth Kumar, Harsh Vardhan, Harendra Kumar

SportsCafe’s starting 7:

Centre – Abhishek Singh

Left in – Rohit Baliyan

Right in – Athul MS

Left corner – Fazel Atrachali

Right corner – Sandeep Narwal

Left cover – Young Chang Ko

Right cover – Surender Singh

What is their strength?

With Atrachali and Sandeep at the left and right corner positions respectively, undoubtedly the strongest part of the U Mumba unit is their corner defenders. This was one of their strengths in the last edition as well when Atrachali was joined with Dharmaraj Cheralathan. Sandeep’s inclusion for Rs 89 lakhs at the auctions this year will now add more power to the same and he is expected to stand up tall for his team along with Atrachali. They also have Rajguru Subramaniam and Surender Singh for the right cover positions which make it very interesting for the team and Surender is likely to get a preference over Subramaniam as he was a part of the set-up last year and knows the tactics employed in the defence by the Iranian left-corner. Good for the management is that they can look ahead and replace Surender with Subramaniam as and when required for the team which is an added advantage in the right cover position.

Where they might fall behind other teams?

The major problem for U Mumba this season is exactly the same what we thought before the league started last season. The team didn’t have a proper frontline raider but Desai stood up for them and became a star towards the end of the tournament. Despite having players like Abhishek Singh, Rohit Baliyan and Athul MS, all of whom played in the last edition of the league. Abhishek and Baliyan were the second or third-choice raiders in the Mumba team after Desai while Athul was an understudy to Ajay Thakur, Sukesh Hegde and Jasvir Singh in the Tamil Thalaivas. Now, it remains to be seen how the inexperienced raiding unit going to deliver for U Mumba in this season.

Lack of a proper defender at the left cover position is another major issue for the side and their coach Sanjeev Baliyan has said it that they will try out Korean defender Young Chang Ko and Indian youngster Harendra Kumar for the position. This position is the only loophole in an otherwise strong defensive unit.

Why one should support U Mumba?

The team which is co-owned by Bollywood producer Ronnie Screwvala has been one of the consistent sides in the league from the very first season in which they entered the final but lost against Jaipur Pink Panthers. Winning the second edition by beating Bengaluru Bulls in the final made sure that U Sports was established as a brand and now they have teams in various sports like football, volleyball and table tennis.

The team is quite professional in approach and the performance that they have put on the mat draws a lot of crowd to the stadiums. Players like Atrachali and Sandeep will be crowd-puller for them in the seventh edition of the league. The PKL winners from 2015 have enough reasons to attract massive crowd during their games because of the consistency in performance and the achievements throughout the first six seasons of the league.

When they will play their games?

U Mumba is the team which will kick-start the seventh season of the popular league with Telugu Titans in Hyderabad. They will play their first two games in Hyderabad before travelling to their home at the Dome@NSCI SVP Stadium in Maharashtra’s capital. The first home game for them will be the Maharashtra Derby against Puneri Paltan on July 27. The Sanjeev Baliyan-coached team will also meet defending champions Bengaluru Bulls, UP Yoddha and neighbouring team Gujarat Fortunegiants at home.

Schedule:

July 20 vs Telugu Titans in Hyderabad

July 22 vs Jaipur Pink Panthers in Hyderabad

July 27 vs Puneri Paltan in Mumbai

July 28 vs Bengaluru Bulls in Mumbai

July 31 vs UP Yoddha in Mumbai

August 2 vs Gujarat Fortunegiants in Mumbai

August 9 vs Bengal Warriors in Patna

August 16 vs Patna Pirates in Ahmedabad

August 19 vs Haryana Steelers in Chennai

August 23 vs Tamil Thalaivas in Chennai

August 28 vs Dabang Delhi in Delhi

August 31 vs Jaipur Pink Panthers in Bengaluru

September 5 vs Puneri Paltan in Bengaluru

September 11 vs Bengal Warriors in Kolkata

September 13 vs Telugu Titans in Kolkata

September 18 vs UP Yoddha in Pune

September 22 vs Gujarat Fortunegiants in Jaipur

September 27 vs Bengaluru Bulls in Jaipur

September 30 vs Tamil Thalaivas in Panchkula

October 2 vs Patna Pirates in Panchkula

October 10 vs Haryana Stelers in Greater Noida

October 11 vs Dabang Delhi in Greater Noida