PKL 12: What could be U Mumba's auction strategy?

U Mumba finished 5th in the last season.

U Mumba had a decent outing at the 11th edition of the Pro Kabaddi League. They finished 5th in the points table, and their campaign ended in the playoffs with a defeat against the Patna Pirates. Sunil Kumar led the team brilliantly last season, while Ajit Chouhan was their best performer.

Ajit Chouhan scored 185 raid points in 23 matches and was the fourth-best raider of the season, while Sunil Kumar scored 53 tackle points in 23 matches. Ajit did not get the support of the other raiders last season, as the performance of the others was quite inconsistent. This year, Ajit will expect better support from the raiding department.

U Mumba announced the retention list ahead of the auction. They have retained their core squad for the upcoming season. Ajit Chouhan, Sunil Kumar, Amir Zafardanesh, and Rohit Raghav have been retained.

To everyone’s surprise, U Mumba released their second-best defender, Rinku Sharma. However, they still have the option to bring him back at the auction using FBM. What are the things they would like to address? Here is their possible auction strategy for PKL 12:

Also Read: PKL 12: List of players released, retained by U Mumba ahead of auction

Key areas to strengthen

U Mumba have released their right corner defender, Rinku, and will need to find a suitable replacement in the auction. They need to acquire a reliable left cover and add quality backup defenders. With Parvesh Bhainswal also released after an average performance last season, the team will be looking to rebuild their defensive unit.

In the raiding department, U Mumba have retained their star raider alongside two key all-rounders. However, Zafardanesh lacked consistency last season, so they would look for a reliable backup raider who can support Ajit Chouhan in the raiding department, in case Zafardanesh is not in form.

Players to target

U Mumba’s main focus will be on buying reliable defenders in the auction, and since there are several quality defenders available in the auction, Mumba will have no trouble finding a quality defender.

They can target Yogesh Dahiya for the right corner and Deepak Singh for the right cover position. Nitesh Kumar and Sanjay Dhull are also good options to strengthen the defence.

As far as raiding is concerned, they don’t need a big name, as they already have 3 decent raiders, so their focus should be on buying a backup raider in case their all-rounders don’t perform.

Conclusion

U Mumba retained the main raiders, and now their main focus is to build a strong defensive unit around captain Sunil Kumar. They will also need to buy some quality backups to ensure depth and flexibility in the squad.

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