Tamil Thalaivas outclassed Telugu Titans 39-26 in the first southern derby of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 7 in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Raid machine Rahul Chaudhry, who scored a super 10, and defender Manjeet Chillar, who came up with a high 5, were the architects of Thalaivas' emphatic victory.
Rahul displayed his strength and maturity to break the Titans defence every time he went to raid.
On the other hand, Titan’s ace raider Siddharth Desai once again failed to click after managing just 5 raid points.
Rahul opened Thalaivas' account in the opening minute before the Titans forced a super tackle in the fourth minute to trail 3-4.
It took Siddharth six minutes to open his account for the Titans. It looked like an evenly matched contest in the first 10 minutes as Telugu Titans led 7-6. But Shabeer Bapu turned the tide in favour of Thalaivas first with a super tackle and then with a 2-point raid.
Rahul then got a 2-point raid and in the 16th minute, the Titans inflicted an all out to lead 16-7.
Thalaivas skipper Ajay Thakur produced a super raid in the 18th minute as his team led 19-8. At the end of the first half, Tamil Thalaivas led 20-10.
In the second half, Manjeet kept Siddharth quiet on a number of occasions.
With less than 10 minutes to go in the second half, Tamil Thalaivas led 25-17 and looked on course for a win.
Rahul made three consecutive successful raids as Thalaivas led 33-20 with just five minutes left in the match.
Thaliavas then inflicted another all out in the 36th minute to ensure that they emerge comfortable winners in the end.
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