Atrachali: Executed game plan to perfection

U Mumba put on a scintillating display of kabaddi against Haryana Steelers on Saturday and picked up a 53-26 win in their third game of VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 6. Coach Rambir Singh Khokhar and captain Monu Goyat were present for Haryana Steelers at the post-match press conference while Fazel Atrachali and coach Gholamreza Mahmoud Mazandarani represented U Mumba. Excerpts from the press conference are below.

U Mumba

Q. What is your take on today’s match and your own performance of seven tackle points?

Fazel Atrachali: It does not matter who the opposition is. If we play as a unit, we’ll get the win. And today we did just that. The coach had a game plan and we executed it to perfection and got the win.

Q. Was this the peak of U Mumba or are we going to see even more improvements in the team?

Gholamreza Mahmoud Mazandarani: Before each game, we analyse each opponent and based on our analysis, we plan for the game. Each game varies, so we’ll see what is in store.

Q. What is your take on the form of your young raiding duo of Siddharth Desai and Abhishek Singh?

Fazel Atrachali: They have been very good. I’m very comfortable playing with them. The most important thing is that they listen. If we ask them to go for a bonus, they do it. If we ask them to get a touch, they do it. They’re young and they’ll be stars in this league which is good for us. They’ll only get better with each passing game.

Q. Your team will play Haryana Steelers yet again in this leg. Will there be any tactical tweaks or will we see more of the same as today?

Fazel Atrachali: Every game is different. We’ll plan for that game differently.

Q. Do you believe U Mumba are one of the better teams in the league?

Fazel Atrachali: We aren’t focused on that. Our mindset is different. We don’t think about how good we are or how good the opponent is. We focus on strategizing for each game and playing as well as we can.

Haryana Steelers

Q. How do you assess this match?

Monu Goyat:  We didn’t have a good start and from there on it was an uphill battle. We know how crucial it is to start well. They started quite well and we ended up giving away 3-4 easy points to them and then we were always on the chase. It just didn’t happen for us today.

Q. What was the thought process behind the substitutions?

Rambir Singh Khokar: The margin, in the end, was too steep to be recovered from. There are many matches left in the league stage. At that moment, it was my decision to limit the damage and take Monu Goyat off so he can recover for tomorrow’s match and to take a look at some bench players.

Q. What do you have to say about U Mumba’s rookie raiding duo of Abhishek Singh and Siddharth Desai?

Rambir Singh Khokar: If you assess both their wins, it was courtesy of these two boys performing brilliantly for them. Physically, they have the height, the bulk and the maturity to be top players in this league. And when you get Super 10s, like those two have, you automatically grow in confidence and start feeling more comfortable in this atmosphere. Apart from those two, I believe their Left Corner, Fazel Atrachali also had an outstanding game. When your defence keeps picking off opposition raiders it gets easier for your raiders to get touch points.

Q. Your next match is up against Puneri Paltan and Nitin Tomar, who has been in the form of his life so far. Any specific plans against him?

Rambir Singh Khokar: Yes. We do have our plans. He’s an outstanding player. We had planned ahead for all our games. Our strategy didn’t quite come off today. But now, we are going to regroup and reassess the situation and the game plan for tomorrow’s match against Puneri Paltan.