Vivo Pro Kabaddi: Rahul Chaudhari scripts Titans' victory

LUCKNOW: Riding on skipper Rahul Chaudhari's fantastic performance, Telugu Titans upset the applecart of U Mumba to register their second win in an Inter Zone Challenge clash of the Vivo Pro Kabaddi League Season 5 at the UP Badminton Academy hall on Saturday.
In a match played later, hosts UP Yoddha crashed to their second defeat on the trot when they went down to Haryana Steelers 36-29 After four losses and a draw, the 37 32 verdict gave the Hyderabad side a new lease of life.They now have 17 points after ten games. Mumbai, on the other hand, failed to replicate the success they achieved against hosts UP Yoddha on Friday. They now have 16 points from six matches with an equal number of wins and losses.
Initially down 2-4, the Titans got off the blocks by a super raid by ace raider Rahul. Those points put them ahead 5-4. And then there was no looking back after that as they led 19-15 at the half-time.
Like on Friday, Mumbai started off with a lot of vigour after the change of ends. Skipper Anup Kumar led the fight back as Mumbai started closing in the gap. With six minutes to go, Mumbai levelled the scores at 27-27. But, the Titans displayed more re solve and kept their nerves in the high tension game as along with Rahul (13 points), defender Sombir too provided them the requisite support. Sombir was instrumental in getting eight tackle points. And that proved crucial in the end.
With the scores 29-28 in favour of the eventual winners, a two-point raid by Rahul made it 31-28. That provided the required confidence to the Titans as they kept up the pressure to walk away with five points.
For Mumbai, their hero on Friday, Shabeer Bapu, couldn't come up with the same type of show. He wasn't much effective as an attacker and that also counted in the final run.