Aswin Crist bowled a length that made it hard for the batsmen to drive him and did not quite give them the room to cut and pull.
From a back-of-a-length he seamed the ball around and set up Tamil Nadu’s victory in its final league match of the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 competition, with a probing spell of three for 19, at Chepauk on Friday.
After Kerala was restricted to 128 for six, B. Aparajith sealed the host’s five-wicket win with a 39-ball unbeaten 51 (2x4, 2x6) that was a lot about footwork and timing on a surface where the bowlers were always in with a chance.
Tamil Nadu needed to reach the target in seven overs for an improbable tournament triumph but as skipper Vijay Shankar said later, “We did not have a realistic chance of doing that.”
It was not an easy chase for Tamil Nadu with Kerala’s pacy duo of Basil Thampi and Sandeep Warrier extracting some bounce.
Both have fluent, athletic run-ups and do look to make the most from their delivery stride and load-up. Thampi, in particular, is an exciting pace prospect cranking up speeds over 140 kmph and sending down swinging toe-crushers.
Even as Tamil Nadu lost wickets, Aparajith was composed, piercing the field on both sides.
He hooked Thampi and cover-drove with assurance.
Kerala, which elected to bat, struggled against some well-directed bowling.
R. Sathish struck at the beginning of the innings with his military medium seamers before Crist cut into the innings with spinners — left-armer Rahil Shah and leggie M. Ashwin — holding up one end.
Only skipper Sachin Baby, he took 20 off a T. Natarajan over towards the end, made an impact. The little left-hander’s unbeaten 53 (45b, 5x4, 1x6) showcased his combative instincts.
