Titans convincingly downs Delhi

Needing a win to keep itself in the hunt for a semifinal spot, Titans took the aggressive stance and successfully pushed it ahead relying on a good team of attackers.

Telugu Titans captain Rahul Chaudhari is the most successful raider in the tournament so far.

Telugu Titans convincingly defeated Dabang Delhi 36-28 in a Pro Kabaddi league match here at the Netaji Indoor Stadium on Tuesday. Led by its captain Rahul Chaudhari, Titans made a host of successful raids and dominated Delhi right from the start.

Needing a win to keep itself in the hunt for a semifinal spot, Titans took the aggressive stance and successfully pushed it ahead relying on a good team of attackers. Chaudhari, who is the most successful raider in the tournament so far, made a slow start picking up single points but came alive towards the end of the first half when he picked up four points in the last two minutes to help the Titans open up a six-point lead at the half-time (14-8).

The two teams were tied 8-8 till the 18th minute before Chaudhari made the super-raid towards the end of the opening half. Delhi saw Kashiling Adake and Meraj Sheykh making a few successful raids but could not muster enough to unsettle the strong defence of the Titans. By the 21st minute the Titans got Delhi all-out to ensure an 18-9 lead.

This virtually set the tone for the win as the Titans went in the hunt for more points with renewed vigour. Chaudhuri, who scored 14 out of the total 18 raid points netted by the Titans, secured another super-raid in the 26th minute to take his team 11 points ahead of Delhi (23-12). The Telugu Titans continued the dominance till the end to finally win by an eight-point margin (36-28). This was the sixth win for the Titans, which moved into the second spot with 37 points from 11 matches. Delhi remained in the seventh spot with 20 points from nine matches.

Later in the day, Bengaluru Bulls raider Rohit Kumar produced two succefull raids in the last two minutes to help his team overturn the challenge of host Bengal Wariors 27-25 to pull off a spectacular win in the other match of the evening.