Winning Strategy By U Mumba Coach: Pro Kabaddi League Season 5

                    U Mumba players during their pre season training in Dehradun

Season 2 winners of pro kabaddi league, U Mumba with four strong raiders and a new look outfit are prepared for season 5 commencing later this month. The team under the captainship of Anup Kumar who has stayed with the mumbai franchise along with Shabeer Bappu has undergone its pre season training in Dehradun under coach E Bhaskaran

"The morale of the defence is always high when the raiders are strong. We have four strong raiders who will allow the defence to take risks and go for the kill during each of the opponent's raid," said Bhaskaran.

The U Mumba coach Bhaskaran, beleives in picking up the right players with right combinations. The 52 year old coach also said that three of the best raiders are there in their team

“From the 136 players that were a part of the New Young Players’ (NYP) Camp this year, the three we selected are within the top 20. We chose defenders because we always need a backup for defence, especially for such a long season. They are very energetic, have played in the junior, senior nationals as well as the Federation Cup, so come with some experience under their belt,” he said.

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One of the most strong and successful teams in the history of pro kabaddi league, U Mumba failed to qualify in the playoffs in the last season of PKL.

Excepting Anup and Shabeer, all the remaining players are new to the team. Joginder (Narwal) and Suresh (Kumar) come with a lot of skill and experience. Kuldeep is also an another excellent all rounder. Hadi (Oshtorak) as a corner is also very strong player. So I can’t really comment on who is the strongest as each of them come with a strong, different skill set.”

He said further that “We will definitely benefit from being amongst the most successful teams in the league. U Mumba is known for its player selection, training, team management and overall functioning,”

With the ‘Captain Cool’, Anup Kumar being retained, Shabeer Bappu is the only player from earlier squad.

“Anup has led the team ever since U Mumba came into existence. He has a very different reputation among the teams and players – he is an iconic figure in international kabaddi now. His nickname, ‘Captain Cool’, also describes how well he copes with pressure and is calm and collective in even the most stressful of situations on the mat. Having a good captain is very important especially when the players keep changing due to auctions. Given his experience, he plays a key role in grooming the youngsters in our side as well,” he added when asked about the Anup as the captain of the team.

“Yes, the season is longer but the good thing is that the recovery period after each match has also significantly increased so it works well. There is time to recover and then concentrate on training again. Our 20-day fitness camp held in Dehradun was precisely for this reason too. We wanted to ensure that the players are physically fit to go through this long season,” Bhaskharan concluded when asked about player fitness during the pre season training.

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