Pro Kabaddi 2019: Manjeet Chhillar, Rahul Chaudhari star as Tamil Thalaivas beat Telugu Titans to begin campaign on winning note

Hyderabad: Manjeet Chhillar and Rahul Chaudhari produced the goods as Tamil Thalaivas notched up a 39-26 win over Telugu Titans in the first southern derby of the Pro Kabaddi League season 7 on Sunday. Manjeet with a high five and Rahul with a super 10 were the chief architects of the Thalaivas’ victory. [caption id=“attachment_7031521” align=“alignleft” width=“381”] Rahul scored a super 10 and played a big part in Thalaivas’ victory. Image courtesy: Twitter/@ProKabaddi[/caption] Rahul proved to be the nemesis for his old side as he showed immense strength to power through the Titans’ defence throughout the match. On the other hand, Siddharth Desai had a quiet match by his standards and could score just five raid points. Rahul opened Tamil Thalaivas’ account in the first minute itself, while Telugu Titans forced a super tackle in the fourth minute to trail 3-4. It took six minutes for Siddharth 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 two-point raid. Rahul got a two-point raid and in the 16th minute, the Titans inflicted an all out to lead 16-7. Ajay Thakur then produced a super raid in the 18th minute as Titans led 19-8. At the end of the first half, Tamil Thalaivas led 20-10 and their defence showed strength and toughness to contain Siddharth. Mohit and Manjeet were rock solid at the back for Thalaivas. 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 inflicted another all out in the 36th minute to ensure that they ran out comfortable winners in the end.