Dindigul Dragons breathed fire. And Salem Spartans’ innings was burnt before it could take flight.
Spartans, chasing 186, slid down the slippery slope in this one-sided TNPL clash at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Friday.
In the end, the margin was 76. It would have been worse but for M. Ashwin’s 38-ball 47.
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Incisive bowling
Dragons’ bowling was incisive. R. Suthesh can be deceptively sharp with his left-arm seam and he castled S. Abhishek with a delivery that came in sharply.
Vijay Shankar struck L. Vignesh for a sweet six over long off. But then, Suthesh got him chasing a widish delivery.
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Rash strokes and panic running meant the Spartans continued to lose wickets.
Earlier, Spartans elected to field.
There is an ease about Hari Nishaanth’s ways at the crease that soothes your senses.
A six down the ground off Vijay Shankar was marked by a still head and balance. And the swing of the willow was smooth and straight.
The young man handled the pressures of captaincy capably, opening the innings and stringing together partnerships during his 42-ball 52.
The thrust to the innings was given though by R. Vivek who threw in big punches during his 41-ball 59 at No. 3.
He smashed left-arm spinner Ganesh Moorthi over long-on after the bowler had sold the dummy to S. Arun.
When Vivek cut, he did so hard. He displayed delicate touch too by slicing G. Periyasamy between deep point and third-man.
Lokesh Raj had Vivek taken at third man to end the 76-run second-wicket stand and then consumed the dangerous K. Mani Bharathi with his next delivery. R.S. Mokit Hariharan blazed away towards the end with a furious 15-ball 32 not out.
The scores: Dindigul Dragons 185/6 in 20 overs (C. Hari Nishaanth 52, R. Vivek 59, R.S. Mokit Hariharan 32 not out, Lokesh Raj 3/33) bt Salem Spartans 109 in 18.4 overs (M. Ashwin 47, L. Vignesh 2/25, R. Suthesh 2/7, S. Swaminathan 2/8).