Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: We shall be ready to tackle Pardeep Narwal, says U Mumba coach Bhaskaran Edachery

A 37-31 hammering of the Zone B leaders Bengal Warriors at their home ground, the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata, with the entire audience cheering vociferously for the hosts is definitely a good enough reason to elevate the confidence level of any team. U Mumba were naturally happy campers after condemning the home team to their second straight defeat in this Inter Zone Challenge contest on Wednesday.

They had a plan which they executed to the T. Performing with gusto, the 2015 champions put up a spectacular all-round display where the offence and defence coordinated brilliantly.

Captain Anup Kumar, star raider Kashiling Adake and rising talent Shrikant Jadhav combined to wreak havoc on the Bengal defence that crumbled under relentless raids from the orange brigade. The defence did just enough to hold off Bengal’s rampant Maninder Singh, who was once again the hosts’ highest scorer with 12 points.

The win was a strong statement, one that was very much needed ahead of their blockbuster clash with the defending champions Patna Pirates in Sonepat on September 9. With Pardeep Narwal making a mockery of the Jaipur Pink Panther’s grapplers en route to posting a staggering 21 raid points, tackling him remains the biggest headache for any of Patna’s opponents.

But the way Mumbai sizzled on the mat has made the coach Bhaskaran Edachery have a lot of faith in his boys’ abilities. They are simply fearless and facing Pardeep is not a cause for concern for them at all according to the coach.

“To tackle Pardeep, we shall bank more on our defensive strength. There’s no doubt that we shall be ready on the match day."

"You saw how we tackled Maninder today. Pardeep is so gifted and has the all-round skills to attack. After today’s confidence-boosting performance, we are sure we will do everything possible to rein him in.”

It’s not just the Kolkata performance that has satisfied Edachery but the fact that they have managed to build a winning streak after looking lacklustre for a large part of the fifth season. After going down narrowly to Dabang Delhi (32-33) at home, they rebounded impressively to thrash the Haryana Steelers 38-32 and followed it up with a 36-32 defeat of the Jaipur Pink Panthers.

This is their third victory on the trot and U Mumba have begun to look more like the team that reached three finals, winning one.

“Before the Mumbai leg, we were pretty inconsistent and our level was bad. In Mumbai, the team scored two big victories. That boosted our confidence and we very much felt that the team was getting back into the rhythm that was missing till then.

"We are very happy that we were able to continue that in the Kolkata leg too.”

The coach singled out the 21-year-old Shrikant Jadhav for praise. The youngster fetched four points through touch, one through bonus and three through tackle which was an effective all-round display. It was something that was needed to support the two star raiders, Anup Kumar and Kashiling Adake.

The coach even went to the extent of saying that Jadhav has covered up the absence of Mumbai’s other dependable raider, Shabeer Bappu.

“Shrikant has definitely tried to cover up the absence of Shabeer Bappu to a certain extent. They are not exactly the same as far as the way they attack, but Shrikant has got into a very nice rhythm now and that showed tonight.

"No strategy was made to make Shrikant act as a defender first and then show his raiding skills. It’s just that today he was able to focus equally well on both areas without taking any unnecessary risks,” he said.

“He is a very promising player. He just needs more match practice and will certainly improve more after that,” the optimistic coach added while talking about the bright future that Jadhav has.