"I mean we couldn’t believe it" - U Mumba CEO Suhail Chandhok says buying Alireza Mirzaeian for ₹16.10 lakh surprised him
U Mumba CEO Suhail Chandhok has disclosed the team's reaction to signing Iranian raider Alireza Mirazeian for ₹16.10 lakh at the Pro Kabaddi 2023 Auction. The U Mumba team management expected him to go for a much higher price, but they ended up securing his services for ₹16.10 lakh.
The Pro Kabaddi 2023 Auction was held earlier this week in Mumbai. Former champions U Mumba worked hard to strengthen their raid attack after failing to fire on all cylinders last season.
Speaking exclusively with Sportskeeda after the Pro Kabaddi 2023 Auction, U Mumba CEO Suhail Chandhok opened up on the team's strategy and said they were thrilled to have two young Iranian raiders in the form of Amirmohammad Zafardanesh and Alireza Mirzaein.
U Mumba's coach Gholamreza Mazandrani wanted the two Iranian raiders in the squad, but Suhail Chandhok felt that they won't be able to sign Mirzaein after spending ₹68 lakh for Zafardanesh.
"The funny thing was when I asked coach Gholamreza about the ideal Iran combination he wants for the auction is, he gave me three names. He said the top combination I want is Zafar and Alireaza and I don’t think we’ll get them because look Zafardanesh unfortunately went and did good things at the Asian Games. So he has been noticed," Suhail said.
Suhail Chandhok disclosed that teams did not get to see much of Alireza Mirzaein at the Asian Games because of his injury. It eventually helped U Mumba sign him for a bargain price.
"The better thing is the fact actually Alireza is a better individual raider than Zafardanesh but thankfully for us at Mumba, he had a slight niggle at the Asian Games. So for me to get Alireza at 16.1 (lakh), I mean we couldn’t believe it," he continued.
"We got that but when we got Zafardanesh at 68 (lakh), I said you know what we’re not gonna get Alireza. We settled it on saying, 'Chalo we'll get one raider from Iran and that’s it.' And then when we got Alireza, we couldn’t believe it.
"I sent a message to coach and he said, 'Please get him'. I said, 'No no we got him.' He is over the moon. We can’t be happier because Alireza is his prodigy," Suhail concluded.
"Last season, Guman's head injury affected our raid attack" - Suhail Chandhok on U Mumba's failure in PKL 9
U Mumba finished ninth in the previous season. They lost 12 out of the 22 matches and failed to qualify for the playoffs. Explaining the reason behind the team's failure, U Mumba CEO Suhail Chandhok said:
"Last season, Guman's head injury affected our raid attack. Secondly, the other players were a little inexperienced.
"When you look now, Jai Bhagwan is into season two, Pranay Rane is into season two or three, Shivam is into season four I think. Now if you look, we have two Iranian talents, aged 19 and 20. Yes, they are raw, but trust me they are exceptional young talents," he added.
The U Mumba CEO concluded by saying that the team has one eye on the future now. He even revealed that the team has roped in a youngster for Season 11, and they will make an official announcement soon.
"Also, we are futureproofing. We'll have an announcement of a certain Maharashtra talent that we have added for Season 11, which is very, very exciting. There's a youngster called Rohit Yadav - totally watch out for him, young left raider. Saurav from Maharashtra - another young talent," Suhail described.
U Mumba have not won the PKL championship since 2015. It will be interesting to see if they can end their title drought this year.