Dabang Mumbai News

New Delhi, 25^th January 2013: League leaders Delhi Waveriders would look to extend the gap at the top when they take on bottom placed Dabur Mumbai Magicians in the Hero Hockey India League at the Major Dhyan Chand National Hockey stadium here on Saturday.

The Waveriders have been the only unbeaten team in the tournament so far, winning four and drawing one at the half way stage of the tournament and have 22 points to show for their effort.

Coached by Ashok Kumar Bansal, the Waveriders have been the only team that looked settled from the first match and that has been the difference between them and their opponents in close games.

The Waveriders would also be confident going into the match against the Magicians, having beaten them twice before and the way they dominated the last quarter in their away fixture in Mumbai would still send shock waves in the Magicians defence.

As for the Magicians, they return to the very venue where they had the chance to begin their campaign on a positive note but just like that tournament opener they had lacked that little bit of luck to grind out a victory.

The Magicians were just a penalty stroke away from holding the Waveriders to a draw but Sandeep Singh’s shot bounced off both the uprights and came back in play to the dismay of the entire team.

The story of missed chances have continued since then and though Sandeep Singh has found his goal scoring touch, there is a lot for coach Ric Charlesworth to work on in the second half of the league stage.

With the Magicians replacing 4 of their Pakistani players – Rashid Mahmood (Pak) with Timothy Deavin (Aus), Imran Butt (PAK) for Steven Edwards (AUS), Mohammad Irfan (PAK) with Bosco Perez-Pla (ESP) and Fareed Ahmed (PAK) with Jason Wilson (AUS) and the Delhi team getting their duo Andrew Hayward and Dean Couzins from New Zealand instead of Muhammad Rizwan Jn and Muhammad Rizwan Sn.

It would be interesting to see what tactics the Magicians would employ to stop Waveriders skipper Sardar Singh from taking control of the midfield as the India international has been a dominant force in his team’s attack as well as defence.

However, Charlesworth would be more worried about finding the right combination for his team with just five matches to play and a possibility of missing out on the semi-final spot already staring down at his team.

Coach AK Bansal, Delhi Waveriders, said,” Having played Mumbai twice already and winning against them we already have our strategy in place to take them on tomorrow. Nevertheless we won’t be taking this match lightly and will play with the same momentum that we have been playing with. Our primary goal for tomorrow is to stop Sandeep Singh and not concede too many penalty corners”.

Speaking on tomorrow’s game captain Sandeep Singh, Dabur Mumbai Magicians, said, “The Magicians have actually just begun to play together. We are kind of 10 days behind schedule in comparison with other teams. The tournament is surely not over for us and we are still reaching out for our first win”.

The Hero Hockey India League is organised by Hockey India with official sanction from the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The inaugural season is being played from January 14 to February 10, 2013 in a home-and-away format. The five franchisee-based teams, consisting of the top hockey players from India and around the world, will compete for the prestigious trophy. Hero Motocorp Ltd. is the Title Sponsor of the league while Airtel is the Associate Sponsor. Star Sports, who is the Broadcast Partner, will be telecasting all matches live.

Saturdays game 26^th January: Delhi Waveriders vs Dabur Mumbai Magicians at the MDC National Stadium, Delhi at 7 p.m.