Chaudhari returns to form and Titans to winning ways

Telugu Titans displayed one of their best efforts of the season on Wednesday to defeat Jaipur Pink Panthers 41-34 at the Thyagaraj Sports Complex in Delhi. Pawan Kumar and Rahul Chaudhari were the top scorers of the game with 17 points each but in the end, the support Chaudhari received from Nilesh Salunke and the defenders was lacking for Kumar which led to Jaipur’s downfall.

Chaudhari and Kumar started things off positively for their respective teams. Telugu Titans, however, soon took a 10-5 lead in the 11^th minute thanks to some aggressive raiding and a tight defensive display. They picked up an All-Out just a minute later and extended their lead to 10 points.

With two minutes left to half-time, it looked like the Titans would run away with the game in spite of Kumar’s best efforts, going 22-11 up. Kumar was the only player to score for the Pink Panthers in the first half as Chaudhari reached his Super 10 and his team took a strong 23-11 lead going into the break.

Pawan reached his Super 10 early in the second half but in the absence of any support he couldn’t stop his side from sliding to 26-12 in the 5^th minute itself. He waged a lone war and ultimately effected a Telugu Titans All-Out as the Pink Panthers closed the points gap to 31-25 half way through the second half. Once he was on the bench, though, the Titans defence gave nothing away as young Vishal Bhardwaj reached his High 5 and took his side to 37-31. Chaudhari and Salunke just held their side together from there and they cruised to an easy 41-34 victory.

The Titans will now look for more of the same spirit tomorrow as they take on home side Dabang Delhi K.C.

Check out our snapshots from this match here.