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Tamil Thalaivas

Tamil Thalaivas
Full nameTamil Thalaivas
SportKabaddi
Founded2017
First season2017
Last season2023-24
LeaguePKL
Based inChennai, Tamil Nadu
StadiumJawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai
Colours  
AnthemNamma Mannu Namma Velayattu
OwnerMagnum Sports
Head coachDharmaraj Cheralathan
CaptainSagar Rathee
Playoff berths1
Websitetamilthalaivas.club

Tamil Thalaivas is an Indian professional kabaddi franchise based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The team competes in the Pro Kabaddi League and was added as one of the four additional franchises when the league was expanded in 2017. The team plays its home matches at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai and is owned by Magnum Sports.

The franchise has qualified for the play-offs only once in the 2022 season. The team is currently captained by Sagar Rathee and is coached by J. Udayakumar.

Background

The Pro Kabaddi League was conceived as a franchise-based kabaddi tournament, based on the success of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament. Its first season was held in 2014 with eight teams.[1][2] In March 2017, the league announced the addition of four more team for the upcoming fifth season, one of which was based in Tamil Nadu.[3][4] Kabaddi is the state game of Tamil Nadu.[5][6] The team is owned by Magnum sports.[7]

History

Early years (2017–20)

The franchise was named as "Tamil Thalaivas", ahead of the start of the fifth season.[8][9] In the auction for the 2017 season, Thalaivas picked up then India national kabaddi team captain Ajay Thakur for 6.93 million (US$83,000) and defender Amit Hooda for 6.3 million (US$75,000).[10][11] The teams were divided into two zones with the Thalaivas placed in zone B and each team played 15 intra-zonal matches and 7 inter-zonal matches.[12] The team registered their first win against the Bengaluru Bulls on 10 August.[13] The team finished bottom of the table with six wins from 22 matches and failed to advance to the play-offs.[14]

The team retained four players including Ajay Thakur and Amit Hooda ahead of the auction for the 2018-19 season. The franchise also bought Sukesh Hegde, Darshan and Manjeet Chillar in the auction.[15] E Bhaskaran replaced Kasinatha Baskaran as the head coach.[16] The team had another disappointing season and finished bottom of zone B with just five wins.[17] Following the poor season, coach Bhaskaran stepped down and was replaced by J. Udayakumar.[18]

Ahead of the 2019 season, Thalaivas retained three players including Ajay Thakur and Manjeet Chhillar. In the auction, the franchise bought Rahul Chaudhari for 9.4 million (US$110,000) and seven other players.[19] Despite the presence of star raiders in Thakur and Chaudhari, the team won only four matches and finished bottom of the table with 37 points.[20]

Moving up the table and first play-offs (2021-2023)

The next season was delayed till December 2021 due to Covid-19 pandemic.[21] In the auction, the Thalaivas picked up raiders Manjeet, Prapanjan and defender Surjeet Singh for a combined 23.8 million (US$290,000).[22] However, the team had another poor season and finished 11th amongst the 12 teams with five wins and 47 points.[23]

Ahead of the 2022 season, the team bought Indian captain and top raider Pawan Sehrawat for 26 million (US$310,000).[24] However, Sehrawat had an ACL injury in the first match and was ruled out of the entire season.[25] The team won only one match in the first six matches, which led to the sacking of the head coach Udayakumar and Ashan Kumar was appointed as the new coach of the team.[26] The team had a revival in form and finished with ten wins from 22 matches. With a fifth place finish, the team qualified for the play-offs for the first time.[26][27] The team won the first eliminator against the UP Yoddha in extra time before losing to eventual champions Puneri Paltan in the semifinals by a score of 37-39.[28]

The team released Sehrawat before the auctions but retained most of the other players. The franchise bought only four players at the auction before the 2023-24 season.[29] The team score nine wins but failed to advance to the playoffs after finishing in ninth place.[30] The highlight of the season was the 74-37 win over the Bengal Warriors on 18 February 2024. Multiple records were broken in the match including the most points scored (111) in a single match and the most number of all-outs (6).[31]

Later years (2024-present)

Ahead of the 2024 season, Ashan Kumar was replaced by J. Udhayakumar as the head coach and Dharmaraj Cheralathan was appointed as the strategy coach.[32] The team retained core players from the previous season and bought Sachin Tanwar for 21.5 million (US$260,000) in the auction.[33] Sagar Rathee was retained as the captain of the team.[34]

Ground

The Thalaivas play their home matches at the Jawaharalal Nehru indoor stadium in Chennai. The stadium is owned by the Government of Tamil Nadu and has a capacity of 8000.[35][36]

Sponsors

Season Kit manufacturer Main sponsor Back sponsor Sleeve sponsor
2017 Admiral Muthoot Maha Cement Agni Devices
2018 Orbit Cables Valvoline Asian Paints
2019 Kaizen Sports Celon Labs
2021-22 Trak-Only[37] Parimatch News[38] Iodex Nippon Paint[39]
2022 DafaNews[40] Kajaria
2023-24 1xBat[41] Kick-EV
2024 Shiv-Naresh MyMaster11[42] Freemans[42]

Players

Current squad

Tamil Thalaivas squad[43][44][45]
No. Name Nationality Position
13 Sagar Rathee Captain India India Defender - Right Corner
Sachin Tanwar India India Raider
8 Narender Kandola India India Raider
Vishal Chahal India India Raider
Ramkumar Mayandi India India Raider
Nitin Singh India India Raider
Sourabh Fagare India India Raider
Dhiraj Balimare India India Raider
66 Chandran Ranjith India India Raider
Masanamuthu Lakshmanan India India Raider
7 Abishek Manokaran India India Defender - Right Cover
9 Himanshu India India All-rounder
Aashish India India Defender - Left Cover
10 Mohit India India Defender - Left Cover
Sahil Gulia India India Defender - Left Corner
Amirhossein Bastami Iran Iran Defender
Ronak India India Defender - Right Cover
Nitesh Kumar India India Defender - Left Corner
Anuj Gawade India India Defender - Left Cover
Moein Safaghi Iran Iran Defender

Administration

Updated: 1 October 2024[45][32]

  • Shushen Vashishth, CEO
  • J. Udayakumar, Head coach
  • Dharmaraj Cheralathan, Strategy coach

Head coaches

Name Nationality From To
K. Baskaran  India 2017 2018
E. Baskaran  India 2018 2019
J. Udayakumar  India 2021 2022
Ashan Kumar  India 2022 2024
J. Udayakumar  India 2024 Current

Records

Updated:1 October 2024[46]

Seasons Total Wins Tied Losses % Win Position
Season 5 22 6 2 14 27.27% 6
Season 6 22 5 4 13 22.72% 6
Season 7 22 4 3 15 18.18% 12
Season 8 22 5 6 11 22.72% 11
Season 9 22 10 4 7 45.45% 5
Season 10 22 9 0 13 40.90% 9

By opposition

Updated:1 October 2024[47]

Opposition Played Won Lost Drawn % Win
Bengal Warriors 13 2 10 1 15.38%
Bengaluru Bulls 14 3 11 0 21.42%
Dabang Delhi 9 2 5 2 22.22%
Gujarat Fortune Giants 9 3 5 1 33.33%
Haryana Steelers 11 2 6 3 18.18%
Jaipur Pink Panthers 9 2 5 2 22.22%
Patna Pirates 14 4 7 3 28.57%
Puneri Paltan 10 3 5 2 30.0%
Telugu Titans 14 8 5 1 57.14%
U Mumba 10 2 7 1 20.0%
UP Yoddha 14 6 5 3 42.85%
Total 127 37 71 19 29.13%

References

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