ELIMINATOR: 11th August 2021
Teams: Dindigul Dragons vs Lyca Kovai Kings
Place: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Toss: Dindigul Dragons won the toss and elected to field first
Lineups:
Dindigul Dragons: Suresh Lokeshwar (wk), Hari Nishanth (c), Mani Bharathi, Rajhamany Srinivasan, RS Mokit Hariharan, R Vivek, M Silambarasan, S Swaminathan, Gurjapneet Singh, Rangaraj Suthesh, Lakshminarayanan Vignesh
Lyca Kovai Kings: Ganga Sridhar Raju, J Suresh Kumar (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Ashwin Venkataraman, Shahrukh Khan (c), U Mukilesh, Abhishek Tanwar, S Ajith Ram, N Selva Kumaran, R Divakar, Valliappan Yudheeswaran
VIVEK AND HARI NISHAANTH SPECIAL TAKES DD TO QUALIFIER 2
In what turned out to be a tight contest with the ball and bat, the Dragons managed to a late assault from the captain and it’s talismanic batter Vivek to ensure Lyca Kovai Kings were sent out of the qualifiers tumbling for the fifth time and the Dragons ready to encounter the Gillies in the Qualifier 2 of TNPL 2021.
Dindigul Dragons won the toss and elected to field first and they remained unchanged from their last encounter against IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans. Lyca Kovai Kings had one change from their last encounter with Nellai Royal Kings with N Selvakumaran returning to the fold and Atheeq UR Rahman making way for him. Openers GS Raju and Suresh Kumar started for Lyca Kovai Kings while R Sutesh started for Dindigul Dragons. Things started pretty slow for the Lyca side with their openers struggling to score runs and the Dindigul bowlers choking them. GS Raju had a reprieve on 5 when he was dropped by R Srinivasan at covers. But he soon perished getting dismissed plumb before the stumps by young spinner M Silambarasan. SUresh Kumar on the other side kept the momentum finding boundaries at intervals before GS Raju got dismissed. Sai Sudarshan joined Suresh Kumar in the middle.
Suresh Kumar took on L Vignesh, slapping him for two fours before Vignesh returned his gift by rattling the off stump of Suresh Kumar. Ashwin Venkatraman joined Sai Sudarshan in the middle. He didn’t last long before Gurjapneet came and dismissed him, caught comfortably by Manibharathy at third man. U Mukilesh joined Sai Sudarshan in the middle. The duo kept tapping runs and rotating the strike before Mukilesh broke the shackles by smashing Gurjapneet Singh to the fence. He continued the same rhythm with Swaminathan in the 11th over. Deepak Chahar, one of the prominent pacers of the CSK unit, joined in the live of the Eliminator with the commentators and shared his experiences.
Swaminathan gave a sweet dose to Mukilesh dismissing him caught by Hari Nishaanth. Lyca captain Shahrukh Khan joined in the middle with Sai Sudarshan and the fireworks started for the Lyca side. The duo took on all the bowlers from the Dindigul setup and spared none, hoisting, slapping, smashing them for boundaries with aplomb. Just as their partnership was blooming, Gurjapneet Singh came back for his second spell and applied brakes on the partnership dismissing Shahrukh Khan caught by Mokit Hariharan. Abhishek Tanwar joined Sai Sudarshan in the middle. Sai Sudarshan, meanwhile hit his half century off 36 balls and was creating a strong foundation for the team. Abhishek Tanwar hoisted some into the stands before Gurjapneet Singh bowled a tighter spell dismissing Tanwar caught by keeper Lokeshwar, Lyca Kovai Kings finished on 143/6 in their 20 overs with a final ball six by Sai Sudarshan.
Next came the Dindigul openers, S Lokeshwar and captain Hari Nishaanth. A Tanwar opened the bowling for Lyca Kings. The duo treated the LKK bowlers with boundaries and rotated the strike with efficient flow. Ajith Ram came in the 5th over and dismissed Lokeshwar rattling his stumps. Mani Bharathy joined Hari Nishaanth in the middle and walked back to the pavilion soon as he was dismissed by Mukilesh rattling his stumps. R Srinivasan joined Hari Nishaanth in the middle. The duo kept tapping runs and kept the scoreboard ticking before R Srinivasan broke the shackles and hoisted Selvakumaran into the stands. Divakar came and dismissed Srinivasan caught by Suresh Kumar with a slower ball. Vivek joined Hari Nishaanth in the middle.
The duo of Nishaanth and Vivek took some time to settle before they unleashed fireworks. They first took on R Divakar hitting him for a six apiece. Vivek then took on Ajith Ram over the stands of long on and deep mid wicket in consecutive balls. He also took on A Tanwar in the 14th over in the same fashion. Hari Nishaanth took on Yudeeshwaran in his second spell, hoisting him over long on albeit a stellar effort by the fielder only to touch the ropes while trying to keep hold of the ball. The duo registered their 50 run partnership in 38 balls.
Hari Nishaanth soon reached his 50 in 40 balls and was soon dismissed by Yudeeshwaran caught by Sai Sudarshan. Vivek on the other side was hitting sixes all over the ground and achieved the feat of hitting the most number of sixes across editions with 62 sixes. Mokit Hariharan joined Vivek in the middle and was dismissed golden duck caught by keeper Suresh Kumar. Swaminathan joined Vivek in the middle and survived the hat trick ball of Yudeeshwaran. Vivek soon wrapped up things and ensured they fixed the date with CSG in the Qualifier 2.
Brief Scores: Lyca Kovai Kings 143/6 in 20 overs (Sai Sudarshan 57*, Shahrukh Khan 28, Suresh Kumar 19; M Silambarasan 1-23, Gurjapneet Singh 3-22, L Vignesh 1-16) lost to Dindigul Dragons 144/5 in 17.3 overs (Hari Nishaanth 59, R Vivek 52*, R Srinivasan 18; V Yudeeshwaran 2-22, Ajith Ram 1-28, R Divakar 1-38) by 5 wickets.
Player of the Match: Hari Nishaanth (DD)
