“The defense was lower than 0,” says Tamil Thalaivas head coach Ashan Kumar after their humiliating loss against U Mumba

Tamil Thalaivas head coach Ashan Kumar wasn’t happy with his team’s effort against U Mumba in their latest Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) 2023/24 match.

The Thalaivas suffered a disappointing loss against the Mumbai-based franchise in match 28 of PKL 10. Playing their first game of the Pune leg, they hoped to get a positive result, but that wasn’t the case. They lost convincingly 46-33.

U Mumba completely dominated the proceedings right from the start and never gave Thalaivas a chance to make a comeback. Two U Mumba raiders managed to secure their Super 10s.

Guman Singh scored 11 raid points with just two unsuccessful attempts, whereas Iranian youngster Amirmohammad Zafardanesh scored 10 raid points.

In the post-match press conference, Thalaivas coach Ashan Kumar expressed his disappointment with the team’s weak defensive play.

“The defense was lower than 0,” said Ashan Kumar.

The majority of the points that the Thalaivas lost in defense were in the cover region. M Abhishek started as the right cover, whereas Mohit was the left cover. Both of them failed to secure even a single tackle point.

Abhishek conceded three unsuccessful tackles, whereas Mohit conceded six. Thalaivas brought in Aashish in the 31st minute as a substitute in the left cover, replacing Mohit, but he also failed to collect any points.

The disappointment was visible in Ashan Kumar’s words, who labeled the cover defenders' poor performance as a reason for the loss.

“The covers got no points and instead gave away 10 points. It was one of the main reasons we lost the game. By the time we substituted them, it was too late,” added Ashan Kumar.

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Tamil Thalaivas' performance so far in PKL 2023

Tamil Thalaivas team discussing strategies during timeout (Image via PKL)

Tamil Thalaivas came into PKL 2023 with the hopes of proving their critics wrong and clinching the title. However, their journey so far hasn’t been a great one. After four games, they see themselves lying at the 11th spot with two wins and as many losses.

They started their campaign with a win over Dabang Delhi KC, followed by a defeat against the Bengal Warriors. The Thalaivas then clinched a close win against Telugu Titans but had a poor loss against U Mumba yesterday.

They will next play Patna Pirates on December 22 at the SDAT Multi-purpose Indoor Stadium, Chennai.