Why did U Mumba not retain Siddharth Desai?
Siddharth Desai was the break out star of Pro Kabaddi 2017 destroying opposition defences with his power and escaping abilities. Ahead of Pro Kabaddi retentions list U Mumba were expected to retain Siddharth Desai, but much to the surprise of everyone Siddharth Desai was not retained by U Mumba. We could think of 4 reasons why U Mumba decided not to retain the break out star of PKL 5.
Injuries:Â
Siddharth Desai was arguably the best raider of PKL 2018 until he suffered a shoulder injury which he never truly recovered from and was required to manage it till the end of the season. The 27-year old required surgery to correct the shoulder issues and there were doubts whether the tall and powerful raider will recover in time for the season. Hence U Mumba decided not to take a risk with his fitness.
Slowdown in the 2nd half of campaign:
Siddharth Desai was unstoppable in the first half of the campaign consistently leading U Mumba’s raiding almost single handedly. In his first 9 matches in which he raided more than once he scored 119 raid points with 8 Super 10s and 8 raid points in the other match. In his next 11 matches he scored 99 raid points with 4 Super 10s. Though this is not bad by any means U Mumba feared that the tall raider is being worked over by opponents thus reducing his effectiveness in the 2nd half of the PKL 6 campaign.
Saving cash for other players:Â
U Mumba retained Fazel Atrachali for a big fee of 1 crore 10 lakhs and U Mumba would have to loosen a large portion of their purse strings to retain Sidharth Desai leaving them very little for other players. U Mumba think tank might have decided to spend the cash for other players or also strengthen other positions in the first 7.
Player himself deciding to not stay:
While all the reasons listed above might be valid, for a player to be retained, both the team and player both should agree to it. Siddharth Desai might have thought going in the auction will give him a chance to be sold at a higher price and simple decided not to be retained.
What do you guys think ? Share your thoughts in the comments below:
