Match 26: 7th August 2021
Teams: Salem Spartans vs Siechem Madurai Panthers
Place: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Toss: Salem Spartans won the toss and elected to bat first
Lineups:
Salem Spartans: Akshay Srinivasan, Vijay Shankar, S Abishiek, Murugan Ashwin, M Ganesh Moorthi, Umashankar Sushil (wk), Lokesh Raj, S Boopalan, Ravi Karthikeyan, Daryl Ferrario (c), G Periyaswamy
Siechem Madurai Panthers: Arun Karthik (wk), Sugenthiran, B Anirudh Sita Ram, NS Chaturved (c), Jagatheesan Kousik, M Shajahan, Ramalingam Rohit, R Silambarasan, Aushik Srinivas, DT Chandrasekar, V Gowtham
SALEM TRUMP MADURAI’S CHANCES FOR PLAYOFFS
Often when a team is out of contention for the playoffs, they always tend to dent the chances for the others to get qualified and will fight tooth and nail to ensure they bow out of the competition with some pride and it was equally evident in the match which happened between the Salem Spartans and Siechem Madurai Panthers which was the last match in the league stage for both the teams. For the former, it was a game for pride and for the latter, the final fight to enter the playoffs. Let’s head to the post match review.
Salem Spartans won the toss and elected to bat first. They had few changes, with their regular skipper Daryl Ferrario coming back to the fold replacing KH Gopinath and Ravi Karthikeyan coming for B Praanesh. Siechem Madurai Panthers also had changes in DT Chandrasekhar coming in for Kiran Akash, M Shahjahan coming in for Praveen Kumar and Ramalingam Rohit coming in for B Rocky.
Akshay Srinivasan and U Sushil opened the batting for Salem while R Rohit opened the bowling for Madurai. Akshay Srinivasan started the boundary count for the Salem side with two elegant four touching the fence off the second over bowled by R Silambarasan but soon perished offering himself to J Kousik at backward point. Viijay Shankar joined Sushil in the middle. It was now the turn of Sushil to treat Rohit the same way Silambu was treated by A Srinivasan. He also took the same trick against Aushik Srinivas and lofted him for two exquisite fours in the 5th over. But he didn’t stay long to support Vijay Shankar before Gowtham cleared him off the scene making him offer a comfortable catch to Sugenthiran. Salem ended the PP on 42/2.
S Abhishiek joined Vijay Shankar in the middle and the duo tapped some runs before J Kousik returned back castling Abhishiek plumb before the stumps. Salem captain Daryl Ferrario joined Vijay Shankar in the middle. The duo literally were cautious and didn’t take risks to lose wickets by lofting for shots and kept the scoreboard ticking by rotating the strike before Vijay Shankar broke the shackles by hoisting a six over wide long-on. Shakar again took on Silambarasan and lashed him for a boundary before he was dismissed three short of his half century with a neat catch by Sugenthiran. M Ashwin joined Daryl Ferraio in the middle and showed intent in his first ball by smoking a six over deep cover. M Ashwin again took on SIlambarasan in his last over hoisting him for two sixes and one four, tallying about 19 runs in the penultimate over of the innings. Gowtham came for the last over and dismissed Daryl Ferrario caught by DT Chandrasekhar before M Ashwin concluded the innings with a six ensuring the team total at 144/5 in 20 overs.
Next came the Madurai openers KB Arun Karthick and Sugenthiran for the chase to book the playoffs spot. Ganesh Moorthi opened the bowling for Salem and started punching when he dismissed Sugenthiran with a great effort put by Lokesh Raj to catch his gift from the batter. Anirudh Sita Ram joined Arun Karthick in the middle. Arun Karthcik started things slow but came back to the form hoisting Vijay Shankar in the second over of the innings but soon perished caught by Daryl Ferraio in the covers off a full toss. NS Chaturved joined Anirudh Sita Ram in the middle and the duo tapped some runs before Chaturved slashed G Periyaswamy one to the fence in the 4th over. He again performed the same trick on Ganesh Moorthi’s third over in the powerplay. Madurai finished the PP on 30/2.
Anirudh Sita Ram took on Ganesh Moorthi in his last over and hoisted him for a six. The duo tapped some runs before Anirudh Sita Ram took on Lokesh Raj in the 9th over when he hoisted him for a six and slashed one to the fence off consecutive balls and Chaturved ended the over with boundary costing him 15 runs. Just when the partnership was developing slowly, M Ashwin came back into the attack and applied a big brake when he dismissed Chaturved with a stunning return catch at the non-striker’s end making him an automatic entry into the catch of the season award. J Kousik joined Anirud Sita Ram in the middle. Kousik punched a six off Boopaln in the 12th over and the duo added some runs to the board before M Ashwin came again, this time dismissing Kousik plumb before the stumps. M Shahjahan joined Anirudh Sita Ram in the middle.
The equation for Madurai was 51 runs from 30 balls and they were in a very tight position to cross the finish line. Anirudh Sita Ram soon notched up his half century but soon perished when Lokesh Raj dismissed him caught a blinder of a catch by Vijay Shankar at the boundary. Madurai soon started perishing when G Periyaswamy came back for his second spell and cleaned up R Rohit and Gowtham in the span of 3 balls. Vijay SHankar came in the final over and took a wicket and contributed 13 runs but that didn't suffice for Madurai to get qualified for playoffs and they bowed out in the most unlucky fashion courtesy a disciplined bowling from the Salem unit.
Brief Scores: Salem Spartans 144/5 in 20 overs (Vijay Shankar 47, M Ashwin 30*, Daryl Ferrario 30; V Gowtham 2-29, R Silambarasan 2-43, J Kousik 1-20) beat Siechem Madurai Panthers 133/8 in 20 overs (Anirudh Sita Ram 52, NS Chaturved 23, M Shahjahan 21*; G Periyaswamy 2-22, M Ashwin 2-25, Ganesh Moorthi 1-15, Lokesh Raj 1-32) by 11 runs.
Player of the Match: Vijay Shankar (SS)
