Match 6: 24th July 2021
Teams: Chepauk Super Gillies vs Nellai Royal Kings
Place: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Toss: Chepauk Super Gillies won the toss and elected to bat first
Lineups:
Chepauk Super Gillies: Kaushik Gandhi (c), N Jagadeesan (wk), S Sujay, Uthirasamy Sasidev, Rajagopal Sathish, Harish Kumar, Sonu Yadav, Jaganath Sinivas, Manimaran Siddharth, Dev Rahul, R Alexander
Nellai Royal Kings: Laxmesha Suryaprakash, Baba Aparajith (c), Pradosh Ranjan Paul, Baba Indrajith (wk), Mohan Abhinav, Sanjay Yadav, NS Harish, Arjun Murthy, Sharun Kumar, T Ajith Kumar, V Athisayaraj Davidson
BATTLE OF THE WILLOW(S)
A double header on a Saturday afternoon with the two best teams along with a cup of coffee having biscuit dips and some snacks is what a cricket fanatic would vouch for. Adding spice to what he/she has before him would be a riveting cricket match being taken to the wire and having a battle in the points for the teams set in Dream11. The CSG vs Nellai saw three changes in the match. Players change in the Nellai setup with Sri Neranjan giving way to NS Harish, B Arun giving way to R Jaganath Sinivas and a debutant umpire in S Janani, first umpire officiating as on-field umpire.
First Ever Woman Umpire in TNPL- S Janani
Courtesy: TNPL
S Janani is one of the two women umpires from India who is a part of the International Cricket Council Development Umpires panel, who had earlier officiated in domestic matches. She idolizes David Shepherd and S Venkataraghavan, two gems from the umpiring community. Janani believes that more and more women umpires would start enrolling themselves and would come up to the international ranks and officiate in matches across the world. A dream come true moment for Janani and a memorable match to officiate in.
Winning the toss, CSG opted to bat. The dynamic opening pair of N Jagadeesan and captain Kaushik Gandhi opened the innings for CSG and A Davidson started the proceedings for Nellai in the bowling. Jagadeesan opened the boundary count for the franchise in the second over of the match by hitting a flamboyant drive to the fence off Ajith Kumar. It did not take much time for A Davidson to dismiss K Gandhi off a bouncer offering himself to Surya Prakash. Sujay S joined Jagadeesan in the middle and he walked the same way he came from the pavilion when he was dismissed off his very first ball by A Davidson caught by M Abhinav. The veteran R Satish joined Jagadesan and he played the anchor’s role whereas Jagadeesan found the gaps to the fence and hit them at intervals. CSG score read 33/2 at the end of powerplay.
S Harish came in the 8th over and dismissed R Satish with a beautiful catch offered to keeper Indrajith. In came S Saidev and both Jagadeesan and Saidev had only one common mindset, build partnership and dispatch the balls to the fence/stands. All the bowlers of the Nellai were tamed with the hefty shots from the willow of the CSG batters. Jagadeesan reached his half century at the end of 13th over bowled by Sharun Kumar with a beautiful cover drive to the fence.
M Abhinav finally broke the 46 run partnership between Sasideva and Jagadeesan picking up Saisdev with a beautiful flighting delivery easily offered to Athisayaraj Davidson. Sonu Yadav joined Jagadeesan in the middle and hit a six off his brother Sanjay Yadav’s bowling in the 15th over.
M Abhinav was the most tamed with Jagadeesan bashing 20 runs off his bowling with two towering sixes followed by 4 consecutives wides and a beautiful four. M Abhinav ended the over by dismissing Sonu Yadav caught comfortably by captain Aparajith.
Jagadeesan raced to his 90’s with some power hitting and was dismissed in the penultimate over with an inswinging delivery castling his stumps by Sharun Kumar. Jagadeesan fell short of his first century in the edition by 5 runs. The last over saw Jaganath Sinivas taming A Davidson with 3 consecutive fours to the fence and CSG ended on 165/7 in 20 overs.
In came L Suryaprakash and captain Aparajith to chase the target of 166 set by CSG and veteran R Satish opened the bowling for the CSG. Both had common intention, tame the same way as how CSG tamed their bowlers. Both started from the word GO and hit the boundaries with aplomb. The technical side was very strong and the timing of the shots were exquisite. The pair raised 25 runs in the first 2 overs.
In came young Alexander and he didn't take much time and dismissed L Suryaprakash with a stunning catch by R Satish at covers. In came young wicketkeeper Pradosh Ranjan Paul and the tide turned towards the Nellai franchise. Both Aparajith and Pradosh found gaps and dispatched the balls to the fence and into the stands at intervals. Nellai scores read 56/1 at the end of powerplay.
Dev Rahul, Manimaran Siddharth and Sonu Yadav were mercilessly hit all around the ground, denting their confidence and testing their skills. Pradosh who came after Aparajith reached his 50 in the 15th over bowled by Harish Kumar and captain Aparajith reached his 50 with a six over deep midwicket off the over bowled by M Siddharth.
The duo were on course for a century partnership when M SIddharth broke their partnership two short of century by dismissing captain Aparajith with a neat catch by keeper Jagadeesan. Sanjay Yadav joined the party with Pradosh Ranjan Paul and he smacked some shots into the air. Pradosh was dismissed 6 runs short of the target when he hit a wide going delivery to keeper Jagadeesan caught well by the keeper. Indrajith joined Pradosh Ranjan Paul and finished things in style with a clean six hit into the stands pocketing two points to his franchise and moving up the table.
Brief Scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 165/7 in 20 overs (N Jagadeesan 95, Sasidev 20, Jaganath SInivas 19*; A Davidson 2-31; M Abhinav 2-24) lost to Nellai Royal Kings 167/3 in 19.4 overs (Pradosh Ranjan Paul 62, Aparajith 55, Sanjay Yadav 25*; R Alexander 1-16, M Siddharth 1-26, D Rahul 1-41) by 7 wickets.
Player of the Match: Pradosh Ranjan Paul (Nellai Royal Kings)
