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Former Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) champions U Mumba did not have their best season earlier this year in PKL 8. Playing under Fazel Atrachali's leadership, the Mumbai-based franchise failed to qualify for the playoffs. They finished 10th in the standings with only seven victories in 22 matches.
U Mumba released their captain Fazel Atrachali and vice-captain Abhishek Singh ahead of the Pro Kabaddi 2022 Auction. Fans had expected them to re-sign at least one of them at the auction. However, the Mumbai-based franchise showed no interest in getting them back.
The team owners roped in former Patna Pirates raider Guman Singh for a whopping ₹1.215 crore. Surinder Singh seems likely to lead the Mumbai-based franchise in PKL 9.
With the season set to begin in a couple of months, here's their predicted playing seven for the competition:
U Mumba Predicted Playing 7 - Rinku Sharma (Right Corner), Kiran (Left Corner), Guman Singh (Right In), Ashish Narwal (Left In), Surinder Singh (Right Cover), Harendra Kumar (Left Cover) and Shivam Thakur (Center).
U Mumba Raiders - Guman Singh, Shivam Thakur and Ashish Narwal
The majority of the U Mumba raiders have never played in the Pro Kabaddi League before. It is a little surprising to note that the team's No. 1 raider has only scored 100 raid points in PKL so far.
Guman Singh donned the Patna Pirates jersey last season, but he was not the main raider of the team. Singh scored 97 points in 19 matches, registering four Super 10s in Season 8. It will be interesting to see how he performs as the lead raider of U Mumba.
Ashish Narwal and Shivam Thakur are likely to be the supporting raiders of the team. Narwal has scored 68 raid points in his PKL career, while Shivam earned 37 points in 15 games for the Mumbai-based team last season.
Defenders - Rinku Sharma, Surinder Singh, Harendra Kumar, and Kiran
Right corner defender Rinku Sharma was retained by the franchise ahead of the Pro Kabaddi 2022 Auction. He was the team's most successful defender last season, scoring 60 tackle points in 22 matches. He will have a new left corner partner this year in Kiran.
Fazel Atrachali has left the Mumbai-based franchise, leaving a massive hole in the squad's defense. Young player Kiran will probably take his place in the left corner position. The two cover defenders of the team will be Surinder Singh and Harendra Kumar.
Harendra was with the team last season as well. Playing in the left cover position, he scored 31 points in 21 matches. Surinder has returned to U Mumba after a forgettable season with the Telugu Titans earlier this year. The right cover defender has 205 tackle points to his name, including seven High 5s.
U Mumba full squad:
Rinku, Shivam, Pranay Vinay Rane, Prince, Rahul, Kamlesh, Shivansh Thakur, Rupesh, Sachin, Ashish, Guman Singh, Surinder Singh, Heidarali Ekrami, Gholamabbas Korouki, Harendra Kumar, Kiran Laxman Magar, Mohit, Ankush, Jai Bhagwan, and Satywan.
