Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Tamil Thalaivas captain Ajay Thakur heaps praise on coach after win over UP

The Tamil Thalaivas registered a shock victory over UP Yoddha in Wednesday's Pro Kabaddi League match up. The southern outfit, who were winless in the last seven matches, produced a terrific all round performance and handed Yoddha their first loss in five games.

Thalaivas captain Ajay Thakur and his right-hand man, Prapanjan took turns to cut open UP's defence, who found it extremely difficult to operate as one unit.

This happened despite the fact that their captain Nitin Tomar managed to score a massive 14 raid points. Time and again, the league continues to prove that individual brilliance will rarely get you over the line. Ajay Thakur explained his team's successful strategy which bore fruits in the final minutes of the match and heaped praise on the side's coach for getting the tactics spot on.

"The both of us had six men on the mat and the coach asked us to refrain from going in for the advance tackles. We had planned to complete all our raids in 15 seconds and come back whatever happens."

"I thought that there were 90 seconds left, so I'll take just one point. But they tried an advance tackle and as a result, I managed to score a super raid," he explained.

Tamil coach Bhaskaran heaped praise on his captain and Prapanjan, who were instrumental in their win. The both of them displayed supreme confidence on the mat.

"The captain conducts a meeting every day with the players and Prapanjan was playing really well in the initial matches. He kept practicing well," he stated.

The coach believes his side developed a fool proof strategy which paid dividends in the final minutes of the match. While UP continued to play aggressively, the Thalaivas slowed down the game and managed to make the opposition impatient.

The Thalaivas defenders kept enticing Rishank Devadiga and co, who had to work extremely hard for their points. As a result, UP's players looked extremely fatigued when it mattered most.

"UP have four star players in their team while we have just two. This motivated us to try and score as many points as possible in the second half," stated the coach.

"We saved our energy in the second half and used it in the final minutes of the match. That is why I asked my raiders to take only fifteen seconds to raid. That is the reason why our defenders had the strength to tackle Nitin Tomar in the end," he added.

Tamil Thaliavas will next play the Patna Pirates in Ranchi on 20th September.