Match 3: 21st July 2021
Teams: Nellai Royal Kings vs Ruby Trichy Warriors
Place: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Toss: Nellai won the toss and elected to field first
Lineups:
Ruby Trichy Warriors: K Mukunth, Adithya Ganesh(w), Amit Sathvik, Akash Sumra, Antony Dhas, Saravan Kumar, Rahil Shah(c), Nidhish Rajagopal, Sumant Jain, M Mathivannan, Sunil Sam
Nellai Royal Kings: Laxmesha Suryaprakash, Sri Neranjan, Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Baba Aparajith(c), Baba Indrajith(w), Arjun Murthy, Sanjay Yadav, Sharun Kumar, V Athisayaraj Davidson, T Ajith Kumar, Mohan Abhinav
Debutants: Amit Sathvik , M Mathivannan (Trichy); Sri Neranjan, Arjun Murthy, Sharun Kumar (Nellai)
DAY OF DEBUTANTS!
If the first two days belonged to the bat and ball for one team each, today the ball and bat belonged to only one team which dominated throughout the game. Today’s match saw the new franchise Nellai Royal Kings facing the Ruby Trichy Warriors who had a poor outing last edition. The Baba brothers, Aparajith and Indrajith played for the same franchise and were occupying the spots behind the batter as a slip fielder and wicket keeper.
K Mukunth and debutant Amit Sathvik opened for RTW and Athisayaraj Davidson, the malinga-esque version of TamilNadu opened the bowling for Nellai. It didn’t take much time for the Nellai franchise to scalp the first wicket when Ajith Kumar bowled a fuller length ball to Mukunth who gracefully gave it to the wicketkeeper Indrajith. Athisayaraj came back in the 3rd over only to be dispatched for two neatly timed fours by Amit Sathvik before he castled Nidhish Rajagopal with a belligerent yorker out for a duck. Veteran Abhinav Mukund was in the commentary box doing an additional work of predicting dismissal of wickets. Adithya Ganesh joined Amit Sathvik in the middle and the scoreboard read 35/2 at the end of powerplay.
The next few overs saw Adithya and Amit rotating the strike and ticking the scoreboard with runs. Both went for shots when the loose balls came and ensured they put up a good partnership. Amit Sathvik reached his first half century in TNPL in his debut match and impressed everyone with his shot making. Adithya Ganesh got out to a wonderful delivery from the experienced spinner Sanjay Yadav, 10 short of the 100 run partnership with Amit Sathvik. Thereafter, came in the deadly Anthony Dhas who struck some blows to the fence off the Nellai bowlers. Amit Sathvik finally got out to a wonderful yorker from debutant Sharun Kumar who further picked the wicket of Akash Sumra in his final over. In the other end, Anthony Dhas was striking the ball to the crowd stands and ensuring that his team reached a decent toal. Ruby Trichy Warriors finished on 151/7 and the most economical from the Nellai side was the pacer Ajith Kumar with 1-18 from 4 overs and spinner Sanjay Yadav with 1-19 from 4 overs.
Next came the Nellai franchise for the chase. Sri Neranjan and L Suryaprakash opened the batting and Sunil Sam opened the bowling for Ruby Trichy Warriors. The first ball of the second innings was hit to the boundary with grace by Sri Neranjan only to be dismissed off the 3rd ball with a neat catch to wicketkeeper Adithya Ganesh. Next came the skipper Aparajith and he too returned to the pavilion in the space of a few balls offering himself to Akash Sumra off Sunil Sam bowling. Wickets kept tumbling at intervals and the experienced duo of Sanjay Yadav and Baba INdrajith ensured the franchise entered the double digit score. Just when their partnership was going smooth, Sanjay Yadav was run out albeit a confusion between him and Indrajith. After that, the team fell like a pack of cards.
Debutant M Mathivannan registered figures of 0.4-0-0-3 with the last three wickets castled in his very first over and closing the innings of the Nellai Royal Kings. The Ruby franchise proved a point that despite letting out experienced and star players, they can pull off a great win. They bundled out Nelai Royal Kings for 77 in 13.4 overs winning by 74 runs in their opening encounter in TNPL 2021.
Brief Scores: Ruby Trichy Warriors 151-7 in 20 overs (Amit Sathvik 71, Adithya Ganesh 33, Anthony Dhas 35*, A Davidson 1-35, T Ajith Kumar 1-18, Sanjay Yadav 1-19, Sharun Kumar 2-39) beat Nellai Royal Kings (B Indrajith 32, Sanjay Yadav 28, Sunil Sam 2-8, P Sarava Kumar 2-5, M Mathivanna 3-0) by 74 runs.
