Shock went though the veins of supporters of the star studded U Mumba, when they were kicked out of Pro Kabbadi League-4 despite winning their last match against Dabang Delhi. It wasn’t U Mumba’s fault but was Bengal Warriors courage that upset Mumba in match no. 47. Surprisingly U Mumba suffered more losses than wins in season 4. But the real hammer was when Bengal Warriors defeated U Mumba to create the historical upset of the season.
Owned by entrepreneur and philanthropist Mr Ronnie Screwvala, U Mumba carved niche for itself by qualifying for all previous seasons’ semi-finals. This is first time when U Mumba is standing on 5th position of the League table. The close look on the point table of PKL-4 will tell you that U Mumba was no less than Puneri Paltan, played, wins, losses and even points are similar. It is U Mumba losing margin that give Puneri Paltan the edge to qualify. It was close encounter as U Mumba was able to win only 6 matches and lose 7 others.
The Season 2 winners, U Mumba started their season 4 with winning streak but their first defeat came at match no. 9 when Patna Pirates defeated them in a close battle winning by just two points. Led by captain cool Anup Kumar and coached by Bhaskaran Edachery, U Mumba consistently maintained its position as the front-runner till season 3 but season 4 was upset for them.
Star studded U Mumba with experienced players like Anup Kumar, Rishank Devadiga, Rakesh Kumar, Surender Singh, Surjeet, Vikas Kale, Manoj Dhull, Jeeva Kumar wasn’t good enough to take the team through to qualify for the fourth out of four times in a row for semi-finals. If U Mumba hadn’t lost their match against Underdog Bengal Warriors the situation and calculation could have been different. U Mumba will always be remembered for their powerful performance, determined to win approach and turning the match in second half.
In all the seasons U Mumba played 62 matches with 43 wins and 15 losses including 4 ties. The captain cool Anup Kumar gave U Mumba its first win in season 2. He is the assured player to keep an eye at as he has 822 points including 411 raid points and 377 tackle points. Anup has proven himself as both raider and defender. As the U Mumba stands with 45 super tackles, 33% successful raid rate and 41% successful tackle rates the team will be worth watching in PKL-5.