 | |
| Full name | Tamil Thalaivas |
|---|---|
| Sport | Kabaddi |
| Founded | 2017 |
| First season | 2017 |
| Last season | 2024 |
| League | PKL |
| Based in | Chennai,Tamil Nadu |
| Stadium | Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai |
| Colours | |
| Anthem | Namma Mannu Namma Velayattu |
| Owner | Magnum Sports |
| Head coach | TBA |
| Captain | Arjun Deshwal |
| Playoff berths | 1 |
| Website | www |
| Seasons |
|---|
Tamil Thalaivas is an Indian professionalkabaddi franchise based inChennai,Tamil Nadu. The team competes in thePro Kabaddi League and was one of the four new franchises added when the league was expanded in2017. The team plays its home matches at theJawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai and is owned by Magnum Sports.
The franchise has qualified for the play-offs only once in the2022 season. Sanjeev Baliyan was appointed as the coach and Suresh Kumar as assistant coach ahead of the2025 season.Arjun Deshwal serves as the captain of the team.
ThePro Kabaddi League was conceived as a franchise-basedkabaddi tournament, based on the success of theIndian Premier Leaguecricket tournament. Its first season was held in2014 with eight teams.[1][2] In March 2017, the league announced the addition of four more team fromfifth season, one of which was based inTamil Nadu.[3][4] Kabaddi is the state game of Tamil Nadu.[5][6] The team is owned by Magnum sports.[7]
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 thenIndia national kabaddi team captainAjay Thakur for₹6.93 million (US$82,000) 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 theBengaluru 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 the2018-19 season. The franchise also boughtSukesh Hegde, Darshan andManjeet Chillar in the auction.[15] E Bhaskaran replacedKasinatha 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 the2019 season, Thalaivas retained three players including Ajay Thakur and Manjeet Chhillar. In the auction, the franchise boughtRahul 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]
Thenext season was delayed till December 2021 due toCOVID-19 pandemic.[21] In the auction, the Thalaivas picked up raiders Manjeet, Prapanjan and defenderSurjeet Singh for a combined₹23.8 million (US$280,000).[22] However, the team had another poor season and finished 11th amongst the 12 teams with five wins and 47 points.[23]
Ahead of the2022 season, the team bought Indian captain and top raiderPawan Sehrawat for₹26 million (US$310,000).[24] However, Sehrawat had anACL 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 andAshan 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 theUP Yoddha in extra time before losing to eventual championsPuneri 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 the2023-24 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 theBengal 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]
Ahead of the2024 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 boughtSachin Tanwar for₹21.5 million (US$250,000) in the auction.[33] Sagar Rathee was retained as the captain of the team.[34] The team finished ninth in the points table with eight wins from 22 matches and failed to qualify for the playoffs.[35] Nitesh Kumar finished amongst the top five defenders with the most tackle points.[36]
Ahead of the2025 Pro Kabaddi League season, Sanjeev Baliyan was appointed as the head coach.[37] Ahead of the new season, the Thalaivas retained ten players from their existing roster including captain Sagar, young raiderNarender Kandola, and a lone overseas player in Iranian Moien Shafaghi.[38] In the subsequent auction, the Thalaivas boughtArjun Deshwal for₹14 million (US$170,000) and Pawan Sehrawat for₹5.95 million (US$70,000).[39] Sehrawat and Deshwal were named captain and vice-captain of the side respectively.[40] However, Sehrawat was released mid-way through the season due to disciplinary issues, and Deshwal was named captain.[41][42]
| No. | Name | Nationality | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Arjun Deshwal (c) |  India | Raider |
| 1 | Vishal Chahal | India | Right Raider |
| 8 | Narender Kandola | India | Left Raider |
| Rohit Beniwal | India | Left Raider | |
| Abhiraj Pawar | India | Left Raider | |
| Yogesh Yadav | India | Raider | |
| 93 | Dhiraj Balimare | India | Raider |
| Suresh Yadav | India | All-Rounder | |
| 19 | Moein Safaghi |  Iran | All-Rounder |
| 13 | Sagar Rathee | India | Defender - Right Corner |
| 9 | Himanshu | India | Defender - Left Corner |
| 4 | Nitesh Kumar | India | Defender - Left Corner |
| Mohit | India | Defender - Left Corner | |
| Alireza Khalili | Iran | Defender - Right Corner | |
| 5 | Aashish | India | Defender - Left Cover |
| 11 | Anuj Gawade | India | Defender - Left Cover |
| 6 | Ronak | India | Defender - Right Cover |
| Tarun | India | Defender - Right Cover | |
| 17 | India | All-Rounder |
| 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 | 2025 |
| Sanjeev Baliyan | India | 2025 | 2025 |
The Thalaivas play their home matches at theJawaharalal Nehru indoor stadium in Chennai. The stadium is owned by theGovernment of Tamil Nadu and has a capacity of 8000.[45][46]
| Year | Season | Kit manufacturer | Main sponsor | Back sponsor | Sleeve sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | V | Admiral | Muthoot | Maha Cement | Agni Devices |
| 2018 | VI | Orbit Cables | Valvoline | Asian Paints | |
| 2019 | VII | Kaizen | Celon Labs | ||
| 2021 | VIII | Trak-Only[47] | Parimatch News[48] | Iodex | Nippon Paint[49] |
| 2022 | IX | DafaNews[50] | Kajaria | ||
| 2023 | X | 1xBat[51] | Kick-EV | ||
| 2024 | XI | Shiv-Naresh | MyMaster11[52] | Freemans[52] | |
| 2025 | XII | BGauss | ARS Green Steel | Spinner |
Updated: 21 May 2025[53]
| 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 |
| Season 11 | 22 | 8 | 1 | 13 | 36.36% | 9 |
Updated:1 October 2024[54]
| 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% |
