"What will I change in the team?" - Tamil Thalaivas' skipper's huge statement after defeat against Bengal Warriorz in Pro Kabaddi 2025

Tamil Thalaivas' skipper Arjun Deshwal made shocking statements after their Pro Kabaddi 2025 clash against the Bengal Warriorz. The Thalaivas suffered a close 43-44 defeat on Tuesday, October 21.

Arjun once again led from the front with 20 raid points. Moein Shafaghi scored eight raid points. However, there was not much support from the remaining team members, as has been the case throughout the season.

The Tamil Thalaivas' skipper once again reflected that he could not make the team win all by himself. He also took a dig at the management and made some shocking revelations.

"What will I change in the team? Everyone who is seeing from the outside and within knows what changes have to be made. You can also see on the mat but you do not know what is happening with Arjun in the background. Only Arjun knows that. I believe on my team. But what should I tell? You have seen everything. Arjun alone cannot make the team win. The team will only win when the whole team, including the management, is together as a unit," he said during the post-match press conference.

Further, Tamil Thalaivas head coach Sanjeev Baliyan also slammed the management after their loss. He revealed that the analyst would select the starting seven and that even the coach would not have a say in the selection process.

"Changing the team is not in the hands of Arjun or the coach. The analyst is there. They make the team. They can only make changes. It is not in the coach's hands. In fact, he is told what the first seven is at the start of the game. So what can Arjun or the coach really do?" he stated.

The Tamil Thalaivas are eighth on the table with 12 points. They have completed all their league stage matches. With just one spot remaining in the top eight and a few other teams still in contention, their campaign seems as good as over this year.

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Bengal Warriorz' head coach reflects on win over Tamil Thalaivas

Meanwhile, Bengal Warriorz have kept their slim chances of making the top eight alive with a close win over Tamil Thalaivas. They left star raider and captain Devank Dalal out for this game.

Nonetheless, the team did well in his absence. Head coach Naveen Kumar reflected that they were looking to test their bench strength to work out their retentions for the next season.

"We have 22 players in the squad. We have not been able to check the performance of many players. So we want to check each player so we know whom to retain for the next year and build our team. Devank is among the brilliant raiders of the league. But we also need other players to play. I know Devank would score 20-25 points if he played today as well. But we do not get chances to check other players. So that would keep hitting us. We want to experiment with everything in the remaining games," he said.

The Warriorz are at the bottom of the table with 12 points from 17 games. They will have to win their last game by a big margin, but also hope for other results to go their way if they are to qualify.

Edited by Rishab Vm