Pro Kabaddi: Stars to return for U Mumba against Telugu Titans

Bhaskaran Edachery

After seeing his second stringers beat hosts Puneri Paltan fairly comfortably, U Mumba coach Bhaskaran Edachery has now turned his attention to the clash against Telugu Titans which is touted by many as ‘dress rehearsal’ for the final. By far, the two top sides in this tournament, the teams produced an absolute cracker the last time these two met, as Anup Kumar stole the game with successful buzzer raid which turned the game in their favour.

Fast forward to August 18th, the two teams are in a far more relaxed mood with qualification already sealed. But, Bhaskaran E, the coach of U Mumba doesn’t want to give anything away against potential final opponents Telugu Titans.

Speaking to Sportskeeda, after the win against the Puneri Paltan and ahead of the game against the Telugu Titans, the U Mumba coach, Bhaskaran E was in no mood to take it easy.

“I don’t think we will go into tomorrow’s game with the same strategy as today. I will speak to the captain and the players before deciding the team which will face the Telugu Titans,” said the U Mumba coach.

U Mumba could face Telugu Titans in the finals: Bhaskaran E.

Bhaskaran, who is also the coach of the Indian national kabaddi team, revealed he may be tempted to go with a full strength team against the Titans to make sure they don’t get any momentum going into the semi-finals.

He added, “I am not counting my chickens yet, but I know the Titans could be a potential opponents for us in the finals and I don’t want to give anything away and hand them the momentum or confidence going into the crucial stage.

“We had initially decided to completely rest our main players as they had been continuously playing. But I will have to decide on my line-up and I can say that it may include more regulars than we had today,” said the Kerela born U Mumba coach.

Bhaskaran seems adamant about not disturbing his side’s momentum while automatically gifting it to the Titans and hence will field a stronger side against them, which is a great thing for kabaddi fans, who have planned a trip to the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex to watch the game as one can easily expect some fireworks.