Rakesh's superlative effort propels Gujarat Giants to nail-biting victory over Tamil Thalaivas

Despite a brief setback near the end of the game, the Gujarat Giants defeated the Tamil Thalaivas 33-30 at the SDAT Multipurpose Indoor Stadium in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 match on Wednesday. Rakesh (9 points), Sombir (4 points) and Fazel Atrachali (3 points) were the standout players for the Giants, while Ajinkya Pawar's 11 points came in a losing cause. The game was the last one in the Chennai leg, as the league moves to Noida next. The next leg of the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 will begin on Friday, 29 December 2023.

In an early win for the Thalaivas, Ajinkya Pawar came out firing on all cylinders and managed to take out Fazal Atrachali twice in the opening 10 minutes of the game. Despite that though there was nothing to separate the sides at the start, as they matched each other raid for raid. 

However, the Giants seized control of the game a few moments later. A Super tackle by Manoj on a rampant Himanshu Singh started a domino effect. Within a minute with his first raid of the game, Parteek Dahiya picked up a Super raid taking out Sahil Gulia, M Abishek and Amirhossein Bastami to put the Giants in control. They went into the break leading by three points. 

A high-paced second half was played out mostly on the raid, with Pawar and Rakesh constantly keeping the scoreboard ticking for their respective sides. The Giants' defence rallied together soon to reduce the home team's numbers and the first All out came in due course to extend them into a 24-18 lead. 

The final minutes of the game saw some brilliant play, with Narender's raid to take out Atrachali and his compatriot Mohammad Nabibakhsh bringing the partisan crowd to its feet. That raid had drawn the Thalaivas close to the Giants' score. With two minutes left though, a Sombirs’ Super tackle put the Giants back in control of the game. They ran the clock down easily to take the win in the end.

Top Performers

Tamil Thalaivas 

Best Raider - Ajinkya Pawar (9 raid points)

Best Defender - Amirhossein Bastami (3 tackle points)

Gujarat Giants

Best Raider - Rakesh (8 raid points)

Best Defender - Sombir (4 tackle points)

Where to watch Pro Kabaddi Season 10 LIVE?

Catch all the LIVE action from Pro Kabaddi Season 10 on the Star Sports Network and for free on the Disney+ hotstar mobile app.