Season 7’s first Southern Derby sees Telugu Titans battle Tamil Thalaivas

Tamil Thalaivas will look to get their VIVO Pro Kabaddi Season 7 off to a winning start when they square off against hosts Telugu Titans in the campaign’s first Southern Derby at the Gachibowli Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday. Telugu Titans, on the other hand, will be aiming to brush off the result from last night’s match against U Mumba and get their first win of the campaign in front of their home support. The match will also see ‘Showman’ Rahul Chaudhari line up for the first time against the team that he represented in the first six seasons of VIVO Pro Kabaddi.

Match 4: Telugu Titans vs Tamil Thalaivas

Head-to-head: Telugu Titans 4 – 2 Tamil Thalaivas. 0 Ties.

Telugu Titans

Telugu Titans kicked off their campaign with a defeat against U Mumba on Saturday and will look to brush off that result when they host the Tamil Thalaivas in the Southern Derby on Sunday. ‘Baahubali’ Siddharth Desai was limited to five raid points against his former side but raider Rajnish had a good outing, finishing as the team’s top scorer with seven raid points and one tackle point. Youngster Rakesh Gowda came off the bench and had a good impact on proceedings, scoring two tackle points and two raid points on his VIVO Pro Kabaddi debut. Telugu Titans’ corners, skipper Abozar Mighani and Vishal Bhardwaj, managed two tackle points each against U Mumba and will yet again be the key men for their team against Tamil Thalaivas. The duo will be tasked with limiting the impact of Ajay Thakur and former teammate Rahul Chaudhari. Given their performances last season, both men would back themselves to do well.

Tamil Thalaivas

Going into Season 7, Tamil Thalaivas have considerably strengthened their raiding unit by adding ‘Showman’ Rahul Chaudhari to complement the likes of ‘Iceman’ Ajay Thakur. In the duo, Tamil Thalaivas possess two of the top five raiders in VIVO Pro Kabaddi in terms of raid points scored. All eyes will be on Rahul Chaudhari, who spent the last six seasons with Telugu Titans before joining Tamil Thalaivas. Turning up against his former team, Chaudhari will aim to perform well. Apart from the formidable raiding duo, Tamil Thalaivas also boast some star names like all-rounders Manjeet Chhillar and Ran Singh, defender Mohit Chhillar and veteran raider Shabeer Bappu. With a star-studded squad, the team will be eying a successful campaign and will be eager to get off to a winning start.