Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: "Only thing new about Tamil Thalaivas is their name," says Rahul Chaudhari. 

Telugu Titans registered a comfortable 32-27 victory over Tamil Thalaivas in the opening match of Pro Kabaddi Season 5. The home side dominated proceedings from early on and never let Thalaivas get back into the match. Post the game, Rahul Chaudhari was extremely pleased with his side’s performance.

“It’s very important to win the first match, we are already ready for our next match (against Patna Pirates). We will play the same way tomorrow as we’ve done today.”

Although the Titans were always in control, there were occasions when Ajay Thakur and co. found easy openings and managed to reduce the deficit to single digits.

“Actually, what happens is you can’t understand what has just happened in every match. That is why I kept telling the team to control the match. All we were thinking was how can we stop them during the do-or-die raids.”

“We decided that if we concede, we will concede only single points and not attempt a super tackle at any point because we already had a ten-point lead. Whether we win by 50 points or 10, a win is a win,” Rahul added.

Chaudhari revealed that they cannot afford to make the same mistakes that they committed in the previous seasons. Conceding defeat from winning positions is something that the Titans are notorious for.

“In the previous seasons, many times we’ve taken the lead but ended up on the losing side. But now we have Rakesh Kumar, who is an extremely experienced defender. I understood how to build the game from him. There were times when I was out but he controlled it well. He’s a great support to have,” he explained.

Tamil Thalaivas struggled to establish their style on the mat. Made up of relatively young guns, the southern outfit found the occasion a tad intimidating. But Rahul suggested that the match wasn’t as easy as it seemed.

“There is no easy match here, our players played really well. From the beginning, we dominated. That’s why we won. Our young players showed that they are part of the team and gave it their all.”

“Only their team name is new, otherwise most of their players are experienced. I’ve played with Ajay Thakur at the World Cup so I know how they play. Our plan was to control Ajay Thakur and it worked well,” Rahul signed off.