“We desperately need victories”

Tamil Captain Thalaivas Arjun Deshwal reacted to their narrow defeat against UP Yoddhas in Pro Kabaddi 2025. Thalaivas suffered a 31-32 defeat on Tuesday, October 14.

Arjun Deshwal said the team desperately needs to win their remaining matches. Tamil Thalaivas are seventh in the table with 12 points from 15 matches. With three games remaining, they will need to win them all to stay in playoff contention.

Their next clash will take place against the Giants of Gujarat on Wednesday October 15. They will next face Dabang Delhi and Bengal Warriorz.

“We desperately need wins. They need them too. All our matches are play or die from here and we are in such a position where we really need to win. Gujarat are in good form. They will be motivated because they won their last match. We made many mistakes. We will target the entire team and try not to make mistakes,” Arjun said in the press conference post-match.

Gujarat Giants beat Pirates of Patna during their last match. Coming off a victory, it will be a tough challenge for the Thalaivas.

Tamil Thalaivas assistant coach on Arjun Deshwal doesn't get support from fellow raiders

Reflecting on the narrow defeat, Tamil assistant coach Thalaiva felt that Arjun Deshwal not getting support from the other raiders cost them dearly. The skipper scored seven raid points.

However, the Yoddhas managed to keep him off the mat for a considerable amount of time. During his absence, the other raiders failed to score enough points. Moein Shafaghi and Narender Kandola scored just two points each.

“Arjun scored runs but the problem was with the support raiders. Narender scored two runs in the second half. Arjun was also out for a long time and it got late till he came back. This caused a difference in the score. It became close but we had no option to change raiders. The performance of the support raiders was down,” he said.

For the Thalaivas to win their remaining matches, the other raiders will need to step up and contribute.