Varun Chakravarthy’s three for 23 helped Dindigul Dragons pull off a one-run thriller against Chepauk Super Gillies in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) at the NPR Cricket Ground in Natham on Wednesday.
This is the first instance of a team winning by one run in the history of the league.
With 12 required off the last over, this is what transpired: 4, wicket, 4, 1, wicket, 1 run/wicket (run out).
B. Aparajith’s brave knock (74, 40b, 2x4, 7x6) kept Super Gilllies in the contest until the end. With 41 required off three overs, Aparajith hit two successive sixes — over the mid-wicket boundary and a straight hit, but holed out to long off going for the third. He even hit a six off R. Ashwin’s carrom ball earlier.
Until Wednesday, the two strips the matches have been played on were said to have retained moisture, had grass patches, and offered bounce. There hadn’t been pronounced turn for the spinners.
But on Wednesday, Super Gillies captain N. Jagadeesan observed that the strip was relatively “drier” and “less grassy,” even as he won the toss and opted to bowl.
Propelled by opener Rahul (20, 9b, 2x4, 2x6), Dragons got to 28 in two overs, then lost three wickets to be on 47 for three in six overs. By 10 overs, Dragons were reduced to 66 for five.
A 61-run sixth-wicket stand between Adithya Ganesh (44, 30b, 4x4, 1x6) and C. Sarath Kumar (25, 21b, 3x4) revived Dragons’ innings, while a superb cameo from Subodh Bhati (31, 13b, 2x4, 3x6) — that included a 102m six — powered it to 170 for nine.
In the second match of the day, opener S. Sujay hit an unbeaten 72 (59b, 7x4, 2x6) to help Lyca Kovai Kings chase down 117 and beat Ba11sy Trichy by six wickets.
Sujay aced Kovai Kings’ chase to perfection. | Photo Credit: Focus Sports/TNPL
Left-arm spinner M. Siddharth picked up three for 13 as Kovai Kings restricted Trichy to 117 for six. Siddharth bowled Akshay Srinivasan with an arm-ball in the second over and went on to take two more wickets off successive balls in the fourth over — Mani Bharathi chopped on, and Daryl Ferrario’s top-edge was pouched by Gowtham Thamarai Kannan at gully.
Thus, Trichy was reduced to 12 for three in 3.3 overs and never really recovered enough to post a big total.
The scores:
Dindigul Dragons 170/9 in 20 overs (Adithya Ganesh 44, Sarath Kumar 25, Subodh Bhati 31, R. Rohit 2/24, Rahil Shah 3/38) bt Chepauk Super Gillies 169/9 in 20 overs (N. Jagadeesan 37, B. Aparajith 74, Saravana Kumar 2/25, Varun Chakravarthy 3/23).
Ba11sy Trichy 117/6 in 20 overs (Ganga Sridhar Raju 58, R. Rajkumar 31 n.o., M. Siddharth 3/13, M. Shahrukh Khan 2/15) lost to Lyca Kovai Kings 119/4 in 18.2 overs (S. Sujay 72 n.o., Daryl Ferrario 2/17).
