Gholamreza Mazandarani: Additional fitness regimes have helped the team

U Mumba coach Gholamreza Mazandarani stressed the importance of extra fitness regimes to help the team stay sharp.

Two Super Tackles followed by some brilliant raiding helped U Mumba topple Bengal Warriors by a scoreline of 31-20 at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Vizag. In the post-match press conference, U Mumba were represented by coach Gholamreza Mazandarani, captain Fazel Atrachali and raider Siddharth Desai whereas coach Jagdish Kumble and captain PO Surjeet Singh took questions for Bengal Warriors. 

U Mumba

Q. Thoughts on the performance?

Fazel Atrachali: I am happy with the performance of the team. The defence played well today. Our raiders as well. It was a good match and we deserved to win.

Q. How do you rate the defenders’ performance?

Gholamreza Mazandarani: Our defence is very good but I believe we can be do better. Our additional fitness regimes have helped the team.

Q. A rare game without a Super 10. Thoughts on your performance?

Siddharth Desai: The focus is not on getting a Super 10. It is about the team getting the victory. And I’m glad that we won.

Q. The crowd support was behind you today. Does that help?

Fazel Atrachali: Definitely. I’d like to thank everyone who supported us and would request them to continue supporting us.

Bengal Warriors

Q. Where did it go wrong for your team?

Jagdish Kumble: Our raiding department wasn’t up to the mark. Outside of Maninder Singh and even including him at times, we struggled. The two Super Tackles on Maninder didn’t help either.

Q. Was there a lack of support for Maninder Singh?

Jagdish Kumble: No. When he was on the bench, the defence stepped up and revived him every time. Ravindra Ramesh Kumawat scored a few points as well. Not capitalising when he had them down to three men hurt us in this match.

Q. What would you say was the gameplan?

Jagdish Kumble: We planned to keep their raiding department quiet and we managed to do that well. But when the raiders give up multiple Super Tackles, it doesn’t help the team’s cause.