Pro Kabaddi League 2017 Season 5: Tamil Thalaivas captain Ajay Thakur reveals Sachin Tendulkar's incredible message for team

The Tamil Thalaivas, after a stuttering start to their debut Pro Kabaddi tournament, are now slowly but surely finding their feet. On Sunday, they showed signs of life as they defeated a strong Bengal Warriors side, displaying great character to fight till the very last raid and in the end, it was captain Ajay Thakur who stepped up and turned the game in his side's favour with a two-point raid.

It was just the Chennai side's third win in 12 attempts but given the fact that they are the only team in their Zone with their home leg yet to be played, they will certainly fancy their chances of making it to the playoffs. The team is co-owned by cricketing great Sachin Tendulkar and in an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda, Thakur recounted his first meeting with the Little Master and revealed what Tendulkar told him.

"His message was quite simple," said the lanky raider, who was India's hero at last year's Kabaddi World Cup, before adding, "Sachin sir told us that he doesn't want the trophy in the first season and his only desire is to see the team go out and give their best."

"He told us that we have a young team full of talented players and our main objective should be to focus on giving the possible performance on the mat," continued Thakur.

Tendulkar stated that he had bought the team as a long-term project and he looks forward to working with his team for the coming years.

Another important message that the batsman gave was the importance of playing clean -- respecting the rules of the sport, staying away from doping and not doing anything that would tarnish the reputation of the team, league or the sport.

Thakur was naturally beaming with pride while recounting the meeting and he also spoke about his favourite kabaddi player -- Manjeet Chhillar. Having played the last four seasons together, he was actually expecting a team to pick both of them together.

However, it was Manjeet who called up Thakur and informed him that he had been picked by Sachin Tendulkar's team as captain!

The raider also praised on the all-rounder, stating, "Manjeet Chhillar is a truly lion-hearted player. He just never gives up and even if the team is behind by 20 points, he will always be pumped and will make sure his team fight back."