Chris Gayle, with childlike delight and sun-kissed smile, signalled sixes from the stands. And Dwayne Bravo, his steps not missing a beat, swung to the rhythm of the ‘Champion’ song.
There was a distinct flavour of the Caribbean variety at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Tuesday.
Perhaps, Karaikudi Kaalai’s R. Rajkumar was inspired by this joyful, free-spited setting at Chepauk during the duel against Madurai Super Giants in the India Cements-TNPL tournament.
His explosive 19-ball 46, which included four sixes and an equal number of boundaries, proved a game-changer.
Rajkumar’s whirlwind innings, adorned by some ferocious hits on the leg-side, gave momentum and thrust to the Kaalai innings when the side need them.
His influential innings over, he ran in to swing the ball either way to fire out four batsmen. Man of the Match, this all-rounder certainly was.
Defending 149, Kaalai’s romped home by 52 runs, registering its second victory in four matches to stay in the hunt. Suffering its fourth straight loss, Madurai Super Giants is staring down the barrel. There is a natural flow to Rajkumar’s cricket that is hard to miss. Powerful and decisive with his batting, he is a medium pacer who can get the ball to dart around from an easy action.
TNPL offers a platform for lesser known cricketers to assume centre-stage before a national television audience and this Cuddalore boy only plays in the second division of the TNCA league, turning out for Royapettah CC.
There were other heroes too for Kaalai. Left-arm spinner Mohan Prasath struck telling blows, getting the ball to come in with the arm on a surface that offered the bowlers some purchase. His scalps included the experienced K.B. Arun Karthick and Suresh Kumar. Prasath opened the bowling.
For the Madurai side, skipper P. Shijit Chandran (43, 40b, 2x4, 2x6) alone fought hard. Earlier, skipper S. Badrinath displayed his deft footwork after winning the toss. Badrinath (24) looked dangerous when he was held at long-off off Baafna. The left-arm spinner bowled with control.
But then, it was a game where Super Giants’ catching was ordinary.
Rajkumar’s display, though, was anything but ordinary.
The scores: Karaikudi Kaalai 149 for seven in 20 overs (R. Rajkumar 46, M. Raja two for 33, Maan Bafna two for 14) beat Madurai Super Giants 97 in 16.1 overs (Shijit Chandran 43, R. Rajkumar four for 19, S. Mohan Prasath three for 16).
