QUALIFIER 1: 10th August 2021
Teams: Ruby Trichy Warriors vs Chepauk Super Gillies
Place: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Toss: Ruby Trichy Warriors won the toss and elected to field first
Lineups:
Ruby Trichy Warriors: Santosh Shiv, Amit Sathvik, Nidhish Rajagopal, Adithya Ganesh (wk), Muhammed Adnan Khan, Antony Dhas, M Mathivannan, Rahil Shah (c), Saravan Kumar, M Poiyamozhi, Sunil Sam
Chepauk Super Gillies: Kaushik Gandhi (c), N Jagadeesan (wk), S Radhakrishnan, Uthirasamy Sasidev, Rajagopal Sathish, Harish Kumar, Jaganath Sinivas, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Sonu Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, Dev Rahul
NIDISH AND ADITHYA TAKE RTW TO THE FINALS
Before the match started in the MA CHidambaram Stadium, Ruby Tichy Warriors had two big things in their mind, that they were playing the playoffs for the first time since their inception in 2016 and that they should qualify for the finals and lift the coveted trophy. CSG, on the other side, had the pressure of keeping their title defence and prove their worth and lift the championship again and they were back in the hunt after losing to the former two days back. Who came out better in the end? Head out to check the post match review of the Qualifier 1 of TNPL 2021.
Ruby Trichy Warriors won the toss and elected to bowl first and had Poiyamozhi back in the hunt for Akash Sumra and Chepauk Super Gillies had Dev Rahul in for R Alexander. Openers K Jagadeesan and K Gandhi opened the batting for Chepauk Gillies while Sunil Sam opened the bowling for Ruby Warriors. Jagadeesan took three balls to dispatch the ball to the fence and opened the boundary count for the team. He followed it up with another boundary and ensured the team started well in the innings. Saravana Kumar who was the star bowler for RTW in the last match, continued his form and took four balls to rattle the stumps of the CSG captain K Gandhi with a deadly off cutter. Radhakrishnan joined Jagadeesan in the middle. He started things soon, slashing one to the fence off Sunil Sam’s second over. Saravana Kumar came back for his second over and removed the big fish Jagadeesan in the same manner with a deadly off cutter. Sasidev joined Radhakrishnan in the middle.
Radhakrishnan continued his hunt from where he left in the last match, hoisting Saravana Kumar in the last over of the powerplay to the stands and hooking to the fence. The duo kept striking runs and finding boundaries with aplomb and soon raised their 50 run partnership with a six by Sasidev over long on. Just when they were inching good, Mathivannan dismissed Saidev plumb before the stumps. R Satish joined Radhakrishnan in the middle.Both of them ensured the score was taken above 150 and started their mission of hitting boundaries and rotating strike. Radhakrishnan flicked one to the deep square leg and reached his half century off Anthony Dhas. Satish, on the other hand, took on Rahil Shah and Poiyamozhi slashing them to the fence. Satish ensured Radhakrishnan converted singles into two, twos to threes and kept the scoreboard ticking. The duo raised their 50 run partnership in 35 balls and Radhakrishnan had a reprieve when he was dropped by Nidish Rajagopal. The duo ended the CSG innings on 153/3 in 20 overs.
Next came the RTW openers Amit Sathvik and Santosh Shiv while M SIddharth opened the bowling for CSG. The openers didn’t take much time and started things briskier than the CSG batters. The highlight over was the second over of the second innings bowled by Dev Rahul who made Santosh Shiv cut to the backward point but his mistime made Jagadeesan pounce one to the left and take a stunner of a catch and make his entry to the catch of the season award. Nidish Rajagopal joined Amit Sathvik in the middle and took his stride quickly hoisting Dev Rahul for two sixes and a four in the second over. Amit Sathvik then took on M Siddharth and punched him to a four through the gully. The duo tapped some runs before veteran R Satish came to the foray and dismissed Amit Sathvik plumb before the stumps.
Muhammad Adnan Khan joined Nidish Rajagopal in the middle and perished soon caught by Sonu Yadav off M Siddharth. Adithya Ganesh joined Nidish Rajagopal in the middle and the duo took things into their hands. The duo took time rotating strike and finding boundaries at intervals and played a cautious innings to ensure no further wickets were fallen for the team. They cut, edged, slashed, punched and hoisted the CSG bowlers and kept the scoreboard ticking. Nidish Rajagopal had a reprieve on 38 when he was dropped by a stellar effort by Harish Kumar at long off only to be dropped and the ball rolling to the fence. The duo soon registered their 50 run partnership in 41 balls. Nidish reached his half century off 38 balls and also had his partner Adithya Ganesh join him in the bandwagon of half century soon in 39 balls. Adithya Ganesh hit a special six which hit the BKT tire kept in the ground. He could choose the charity he wants to donate and BKT tires would donate 50,000 for COVID affected patients in the charity.
Nidish Rajagopal was soon run out by Radhakrishnan albeit a diving direct throw and Anthony Dhas soon joined Adithya Ganesh. But he soon perished when Siddharth, who bowled the last over rattled the stumps of Anthony Dhas and gave him a wild send off. Aditya Ganesh hoisted Siddharth and finished things in style and RTW reached the finals for the first time in 5 editions!!!!!
Brief Scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 153/3 in 20 overs (S Radhakrishnan 82*, R Satish 29*, U Sasidev 23; Saravana Kumar 2-32,Mathivannan 1-26) lost to Ruby Trichy Warriors 157/5 in 19.5 overs (Adithya Ganesh 66*, Nidish Rajagoapl 55; M SIddharth 2-23, R Satish 1-19, Rahul D 1-24) by 5 wickets.
Player of the Match: Adithya Ganesh (RTW)
