India seem to be mastering the art of peaking at the right time. It's no surprise, thus, that despite a shock loss in the opening encounter to South Korea, the hosts managed to sail into the Kabaddi World Cup final.
India produced one of their most clinical performances in the semifinal, crushing Thailand 73-20 here on Friday. They will take on Iran in the decider on Saturday.
A packed house was treated to a spectacular show as the big guns of India came out blazing and Thailand had no answer to their might.
Skipper Anup Kumar opened India's account with a trademark bonus point in the first minute. Manjeet Chhillar scored his team's first tackle point in the third minute as India led 4-0 after three minutes.
Khomsan Thangkham scored Thailand's first point in the fourth minute. Ajay Thakur and Pardeep Narwal scored two points apiece in the first five minutes as India led 7-1. India inflicted the first all out in the seventh minute to lead 11-2.
Thailand were struggling to match India's intensity and with Narwal looking in imperious form, India led 15-3 after nine minutes. Thailand were reduced to just two men in the 11th minute as India took a commanding 19-3 lead. An all out was duly inflicted by India in the 13th minute as India led 23-3.
It was turning out be a fairly one-sided affair as India completely dominated Thailand in the first half. Such was India's domination that they inflicted three all outs in the first half to lead 36-8 at the break. Thakur scored six points while Anup contributed five points in the first half.
Thakur began the second half for India with a two-point raid as Thailand were staring at another all out. The fourth all out came in the 22nd minute as India led 42-8.
The hosts then showed their bench strength as Rahul Chaudhari came on as a substitute along with Nitin Tomar and Mohit Chhillar. India were relentless as they scored nine points in a row in four minutes to lead 45-8.
Narwal achieved his super 10 in the 25th minute and maintained a 100 per cent strike rate. Thailand had no answer to India's attack, nor could they handle the defence as fifth all out was inflicted in 26th minute.
India were cruising at 51-8 when Narwal came up with another super raid in the 28th minute to extend India's lead by a whopping 46 points. Thailand finally managed to score their first point of the second half after eight minutes. In the next minute, Narwal was tackled for the first time as Thailand hit double figures and trailed 10-55.
Tomar produced a super raid in the 30th minute as India led 58-10 and were toying with Thailand defence. A sixth all out followed in the next minute as Surender Nada achieved a high five to give India 62-10 lead.
With less than five minutes left on the clock, Thailand scored with a two-point raid to trail 14-68 in the 36th minute. India inflicted six all outs, scored 18 tackle points, 42 raid points in a dominant display as they thumped Thailand 73-20.
In the other semifinal, Iran edged past Korea 28-22.
Stopwatch: India bt Thailand 73-20, Iran bt South Korea 28-22
Playing today (Live on Star Sports 2 & 3): Final: India vs Iran (7:50 pm)
