All-round brilliance hands Tamil Thalaivas huge victory

An all-round performance from Tamil Thalaivas gave them a 46-24 victory over U.P. Yoddha at the Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Sports Complex in Greater Noida on Friday. Sukesh Hegde and Ajay Thakur returned 9 raid points apiece, while 8 tackle points from Manjeet Chhillar made him the man with the most High 5s in VIVO Pro Kabaddi history.

Tamil Thalaivas started the game on a high as they built a 3-point lead within the first 3 minutes. But a Super Tackle by Narender on Jasvir Singh reduced the deficit to a single point.  Tamil Thalaivas then went on the offensive, getting points in a rush.

A touch point from Ajay Thakur reduced U.P. Yoddha to a solitary player on the mat before a tackle by D. Pradap helped Tamil Thalaivas inflict the first All-Out of the game on U.P. Yoddha in the 7^th minute, opening up a 10-4 lead. Sukesh Hegde had just one unsuccessful raid in the first half and reached 300 VIVO Pro Kabaddi raid points with a bonus in the 11^th minute.

Check out the photos from the match here.

Tamil Thalaivas increased their lead to 9 points from there before Hegde put in a 5-point Super-Raid to inflict another All-Out on U.P. Yoddha in the 15^th minute.

Tamil Thalaivas kept up the intensity throughout the half and chipped away at the scoreboard, not allowing U.P. Yoddha even an inch. Hegde finished the half with 9 raid points and Manjeet Chhillar with 4 tackle points as Tamil Thalaivas took a 15-point lead, heading into halftime with the scores reading 26-11.

The second half started with both teams playing on the Do-or-Die raids as U.P. Yoddha tried launching a comeback. They got two points off successful Do-or-Die raids but Tamil Thalaivas held on to their lead.

Both the teams’ defence then came to the fore as Manjeet Chhillar’s Ankle-Hold on Rai helped him complete his High 5 in the 10^th minute before Jeeva Kumar got the game’s second Super Tackle on Jasvir just two minutes later. Amit Hooda’s Block on Rohit Kumar Choudary gave him his High 5 in the 14^th minute as Tamil Thalaivas led 34-18.

Md. Masud Karim gave U.P. Yoddha some valuable points as he got two raid points in as many raids. But Thakur soon sent Narender and Jeeva Kumar to the bench off another Do-or-Die raid and Hooda tackled Rai to inflict a third All-Out on U.P. Yoddha in the final minute of the game, to help Tamil Thalaivas increase their lead to 20 points.

Visit the matchcentre to relive the contest here.

Thakur’s touch point in his team’s final raid of the match sealed one of the heaviest victories of the season for Tamil Thalaivas.

Top Performers

U.P. Yoddha

Top Raider: Prashanth Kumar Rai (7 raid points)

Top Defender: Jeeva Kumar (3 tackle points)

Tamil Thalaivas

Top Raider: Sukesh Hegde (9 raid points)

Top Defender: Manjeet Chhillar (8 tackle points)