Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: "Anybody can try the dubki but Pardeep Narwal is the master," says U Mumba's Anup Kumar.

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Anup (left) was happy after his side's easy win

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U Mumba produced an utterly dominating performance in the first Pro Kabaddi match today as they triumphed by a massive 14 points over a hapless Dabang Delhi. At the end of 40 minutes, the score read 36-22, as Anup and co. registered a well-deserved victory. 

Mumba’s deadly duo of Anup Kumar and Shabeer Bapu were in fine form. The both of them took turns to dismantle Delhi’s defense and scored 7 points each. 

In the first half, Shabeer Bapu surprisingly attempted a version of the duBki and pulled it off wonderfully. Captain, Anup Kumar chipped in with his views on the dubki king debate post the match. 

“Look anyone can try the dubki. If one practices the move regularly and attempts it, they are bound to be successful. But in my opinion, Pardeep Narwal is the master of dubki. It’s extremely difficult to replicate his dubki,” he said. 

The captain was ecstatic with his sides supreme performance in Nagpur. Post their loss in the first game, Mumbai had to dig deep against Haryana Steelers for the win. But tonight, they displayed confidence and determination from the get go. 

“It’s very good that we won by 14 points, we beat Delhi by such a huge margin. They are a pretty good team. In the first two games, our team wasn’t set but today our defenders and raiders played really well. Our confidence is high now that we’ve won by such a huge margin,” he stated. 

The usually unadventurous Kumar attempted numerous raids against Delhi and was largely successful, scoring an impressive 7 raid points. At one point, he was the lone man on the mat for U Mumba but wonderfully saved them from an all-out. 

“I never think about my individual performance. I always think about the team. It’s good that I played well for the team, but not only me, the entire team played really well,” he said. 

U Mumba’s defenders have come under scrutiny of late. With a completely new look defense, the coach has found it tough to get it right. But Kumar believes he has a quality set of defenders at his disposal. 

“Look the defenders we played in the first game and third game is the same. My defenders are very good and we had planned well for this match. We gave them the confidence to deliver,” he opined.

Joginder Narwal suffered an injury midway through the match. The defender was taken off immediately but coach, Bhaskaran suggested that there is nothing to worry about.

“This is the first time he has suffered an injury, it’s not serious. It’s just a slight muscle pull. The physio is very good and he will be ready for the next match,” the coach signed off.

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