Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag on raid: Cricket legends congratulate India on reaching 2016 Kabaddi World Cup final

New Delhi: Cricket legends Sachin Tendulkar an Virender Sehwag on Friday congratulated India on reaching the finals of 2016 Kabaddi World Cup at Ahmedabad.

Favourites and two-time defending champions India humiliated Thailand today with a 73-20 scoreline in the second semi-final match, thus setting up a salivating title clash against Iran.

Moments after India registered the thumping win over Thailand, Sehwag congratulated the Anup Kumar-led team in his typical style. He wrote, "Congratulations Team India on reaching finals of #kabaddiworldcup2016 . Thai ko kar diya Bye. #INDvTHA . Drink Irani Chai tomorrow in finals".

Congratulations Team India on reaching finals of #kabaddiworldcup2016 .
Thai ko kar diya Bye.#INDvTHA .
Drink Irani Chai tomorrow in finals pic.twitter.com/IwQs8NeaZK

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 21, 2016

The final against the Persian giants will be played on Saturday.

Tendulkar, regarded as one of the greatest cricketers of all time, showed his elation and wrote, "Yeeaaahhh!!! We are through to the finals of Kabaddi World Cup. Come on India!! #INDvTHA".

Yeeaaahhh!!! We are through to the finals of Kabaddi World Cup. Come on India!! #INDvTHA

— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) October 21, 2016

The emphatic win set-up yet another salivating India-Iran World Cup final even as the raiding game started to gain global prominence. The Persian giants themselves survived a South Korean threat with a 28-22 win in the first semis early today at the same venue.

A full-strength Indian team toyed with a young Thai team, whose average age is 20 years, in an one-sided affair. For India, star raiders Pardeep Narwal (14 points) – most of the match, Ajay Thakur (11) and Nitin Tomar (7) led the charge, even as defenders continued to produce clockwork precision thwarting opponent raids, after that shock opening day defeat to South Korea.

Both the finalists have suffered a defeat in their respective six-team round robin group matches. India lost the Korea 32-34, then recorded 54-20 win over Australia, 57-20 over Bangladesh, 74-20 over Argentina and 69-18 over England. India finished second in the Pool A behind undefeated Koreans.

Iran were expected to top Pool B, but a 25-41 defeat to outsiders Poland gave Thailand the group honours by virtue of better scores, despite finishing on 20 points each.