SEVEN matches, seven defeats. Glenn Turner’s first tilt at the Hockey India League may well end with a complete absence of victory.
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The Mumbai Magicians, coached by Australian Kookaburras mentor Ric Charlesworth, on Monday slumped to their seventh loss, this time to the Ranchi Rhinos.
The 28-year-old Goulburn Mulwaree Council Waste Management employee, who’s being paid $25,000 to compete in the month-long competition, has four more opportunities to nab a victory.
This first occurs tonight, when the Magicians tackle the Uttar Pradesh Wizards, a team featuring Kookaburras teammates Eddie Ockenden, Luke Doerner and George Bazeley. Tomorrow Turner and his troops meet the Jaypee Punjab Warriors.
The Magicians again meet the Wizards on Saturday and finalise their tournament with a showdown against the Warriors on Tuesday.
The Magicians’ were overshadowed by the forced departure of Pakistani players, when Turner and his Mumbai teammates became caught up in an anti-Pakistan rally.
“We were in the change room having a meeting and a mob of I guess anti- Pakistan guys were outside, so we had to get locked in the change room. We weren’t allowed out,” Turner said.
“They had to sneak the Pakistan guys out the back door to the buses, and they let the leader in of this gang or whatever … to check our room to see if there were any Pakistan guys there, it was pretty scary times.”