Rahul Chaudhari scored 11 points and led his team to the semifinals as Telugu Titans registered a resounding 35-23 win over Jaipur Pink Panthers. Rahul got good support from Nilesh Salunke in attack as the Titans registered a comfortable victory. Pink Panthers looked lackluster throughout the game and rarely troubled their rivals. The Titans now have 45 points from 13 games whereas Pink Panthers are in the second spot with 47 games from 14 games.
Rahul opened his and the Titans’ account in the second minute whereas Tushar Patil scored a raid point for Jaipur Pink Panthers as it was 1-1 after three minutes. Jaipur sent Rahul to the bench in fourth minute as both teams traded tackle and raid points in next few minutes. The Pink Panthers led 4-3 after 10 minutes but Rahul came back on in 11th minute to score a raid as Titans went ahead 6-4.
The Titans extended their lead by five points in 14 th minute as Rahul scored his 100th point of the season. The Titans inflicted the first all out of the match in 15th minute to lead 12-5. Jaipur’s defence struggled in the first half and scored their second tackle point to trail 7-13 after 18 minutes. Vinod achieved a high five for the Titans in the first half and Nilesh Salunke scored with a super raid in the 20th minute as they went into the break leading 17-7.
Jaipur made a strong start to the second half as they forced a super tackle in 23rd minute to trail 11-19. However, the Titans inflicted an all out in the 16th minute to open a 13-point gap at 24-11. Jaipur didn’t put the opposition under too much pressure though as they trailed 15-28 with less than 10 minutes to go. Rahul again scored with a super raid and attained his fifth super 10 of the season as Titans led 32-15. In the last five minutes, the Titans took their foot off the pedal as Jaipur reduced the defeat margin. Tushar Patil scored eight points for Jaipur but his effort went in vain as they lost 23-35.
