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It was a day to forget for U Mumba and their staff as they succumbed meekly in front of a powerful and all-round Gujarat Fortunegiants side, slumping to a 39-21 defeat. The Gujarat side's young raiders Sachin and Rohit Gulia ran riot, picking up seven and eight raid points respectively, while U Mumba could only score a total of five tackle points in the whole match, two of which were scored by raider Kashiling Adake in a super tackle.
The above statistics sum up the game quite well as it was a poor defensive display by the Season 2 champions, who also fared badly in the raiding department. Anup Kumar was their highest raid point scorer of the match, with four of them, and cut a frustrated figure as he spent a large chunk of the game off the mat.
In the post-match press conference, Anup lamented his side's performance and gave a harsh but honest assessment. "The whole team did not play well. We performed to 10% of our capacities," he said, before adding, "No, it wasn't even 10%."
A reporter tried to sneak a cheeky question in by asking that how Anup must have great memories of playing in Ahmedabad, referring to the World Cup win, and asked him if the change of weather in the city had affected him.
Anup, in his trademark style, was quick to respond, "World Cup mein bhi pehla match haare the (We lost our first match in the World Cup too)," sending the media into peals of laughter. He added, 'I hope we can replicate the same in the Pro Kabaddi League as well."
Manpreet Singh, the coach of the Fortunegiants, also expressed his delight and was quick to recognize that despite the scoreline, it was a hard-fought win. "The key to winning the tournament will be the young players and I'm happy ours are doing well as well," he said.
"U Mumba are a very strong team and we chalked out a strategy for them well in advance. I am happy it paid off tonight and that we were able to defeat them."
Manpreet also thanked the fans, who came out in huge numbers to support their home side. "I'm glad that the people of Gujarat have taken such an interest in kabaddi. I am sure it will only grow in the state, such is the nature of the game," he said, signing off.
