Pro Kabaddi League Season 6: U Mumba part ways with legendary coach Bhaskaran Edachery

In what can be described as nothing less than a shocker, U Mumba have decided to part ways with their long-time coach Bhaskaran Edachery, who has been at the helm of the team since the inception of the Pro Kabaddi League in 2014.

Under the tutelage of Bhaskaran, U Mumba finished runners-up in the very first season of the competition and followed it up by winning the PKL in 2015.

Their dominance continued. The very next season, as Mumbai once again finished runners-up, thus cementing themselves as one of the most consistent sides in the league. However, their stability came to an abrupt halt in the 2016 June edition when they finished outside the top 4 for the first time ever.

This was followed by a poor outing in season 5 where they lost 12 of their 22 group stages matches, thus failing to make it to the knockout stages of the tournament. Sensing a need for the chance, the U Mumba management decided to let go of the services of the former India coach.

"I have left U Mumba," Bhaskaran told Sportskeeda on Monday. It has been learnt that the coach is currently, actively speaking to several teams in the league and could make a move to one of the rival franchises very soon.

In addition to parting ways with their coach, U Mumba also chose to retain none of their players from last season and will head into the auction with a completely clean slate, rebuilding the team from scratch.

This despite the fact that some of their young players, namely Darshan and Srikanth did well in the raiding department. However, it was their defence that let them down last season.

Indian legend, Anup Kumar too was also not retained by the management, thus signalling U Mumba's intent of a new strategy in their attempt to once again cement themselves as one of the stronger sides in PKL.