Match 1: 19th July 2021
Teams: Lyca Kovai Kings vs Salem Spartans
Place: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Toss: Salem won the toss and elected to field first
Lineups:
Lyca Kovai Kings: Ganga Sridhar Raju, R Kavin (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan (C), Abhishek Tanwar, U Mukilesh, Ashwin Venkataraman, N Selva Kumaran, S Ajith Ram, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, Elangovan Srinivasan
Salem Spartans: Akshay Srinivasan, Gopinath, S Abishiek, Umashankar Sushil (wk), B Praanesh, Daryl Ferrario (c), Vijay Shankar, Ravi Karthikeyan, M Ganesh Moorthi, G Periyaswamy, Murugan Ashwin
Debutants: Daryl Ferrario (Salem), B Sai Sudarshan (Kovai), Elangovan Srinivasan (Kovai)
Rain of runs marred by the rain gods
“Damkutla Dumkutla”, “Namma Ooru, Namma Gethu”, the catchy lyrics rang a bell in every TNPL fan at the Chepauk and who watched via TV and Hotstar.
“Early nerves?”, asked Sunil Chandok. “I myself being a left hander would like to flick away while starting”, reckoned A Mukund. The festival of cricket in TamilNadu, TNPL 2021, started with a bang yesterday with the opening match between Lyca Kovai Kings and the newly formed Salem Spartans. The COVID pandemic hit the sporting world a lot for the past 1 year and after a long run, the TNPL started at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. After being out of action for a long time, the match was kickstarted by all rounder Vijay Shankar with a wide delivery. Ganga Sridhar Raju and R Kavin opened for the Salem franchise and were waiting until the 4th ball of the innings when GS Raju started the proceedings with a straight hit to the boundary for a four.
The next over by B Praanesh who was taken from the Dindigul Dragons franchise from last year had a leather hunt in his very first over. GS Raju ran havoc with a straight drive four, a flamboyant six over deep square leg from a short pitched ball, another six over long off and finishing the over by cutting off to the boundary through covers fetching 20 runs to his team.
Last TNPL sensation G Periyaswamy came in the 4th over and tightened the screws on GS Raju by bowling a tight over yielding just 7 runs. He even bowled a no-ball in the over offering a free hit to the opponent. But he never ever gave the opprtunity for the willow to swing and dominate. A deceptive off cutter made the free hit chance lose for the batting team.
The big fish, GS Raju sailed on to 33(19) when spinner Ganesh Moorthi M came in the 5th over and bowled a quicker ball outside leg making GS Raju to move and offer himself to Akshay Srinivasan at mid off. In came young sensation Sai Sudarshan who has played in the CSK Junior program and also plays for the club Alwarpet CC. The power, grit and determination he had in him could be very well seen in his batting. It was raining boundaries on both the offside and legside side and running between the wickets was quick. The tonk sound from his willow was vibrating through the TV and mobile screens.Kavin on the other hand, was anchoring the partnership by rotating the strike and playing with patience. Murugan Ashwin, one of the star spinners from the TN circuit was bashed with ease and captain Daryl and Vijay Shankar were taken to their nerves.
The 10th over of the innings from Periyaswamy saw a chance to dismiss Kavin but Abishiek missed a chance to hold onto the catch. Both Kavin and Sudarshan stitched a 121 runs partnership before the former was dismissed by Vijay Shankar in the 17th over of the innings holing out to Daryl Ferrario just outside extra cover.
The 18th over of the innings from G Periyasamy saw the gears changing to Salem side. The mighty Shahrukh Khan, captain of the Lyca Kovai Kings failed to read an off-pace length ball from Periyasamy and holed out to Vijay Shankar at long-on. Immediately followed the in-form Sai Sudarshan who holed out to Daryl Ferrario at long-on scoring 87(43) at S/R of 202.33 hitting 8 fours and 5 sixes in his ferocious innings. Abhishek Tanwar came out in the hat trick ball of Periyasamy and flicked to deep fine leg for a boundary. The over finished with a straight hit to the stumps from Murugan Ashwin from backward point dismissing U Mukilesh when the rain gods entered the arena.
The ground was drenched with water and the commentators L Balaji and A Mukund reckoned that the drainage system in Chepauk was at its high standard and would take just half an hour for the ground to become dry once the rain stopped. But, rain gods had different plans. The match was called off at 11:07 PM IST when there were chances for a 5-overs-a-side game at the cutoff time at 11:13 PM IST. But persistent rains forced the on field umpires to call off the game and award the franchises each 1 point. “Rain of runs from the willow marred by rain gods!!!”
Brief Scores: Lyca Kovai Kings 168-5 in 18 overs (Ganga Sridhar Raju 33, Sai Sudarshan 87, G Periyasamy 2-18, Vijay Shankar 1-35, Ganesh Moorthi 1-29) vs Salem Spartans. Match abandoned due to rain.
