QUALIFIER 2: 13th August 2021
Teams: Chepauk Super Gillies vs Dindigul Dragons
Place: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Toss: Chepauk Super Gillies won the toss and elected to field first
Lineups:
Dindigul Dragons: Hari Nishanth (c), R Vimal Khumar, Mani Bharathi, Rajhamany Srinivasan, RS Mokit Hariharan, R Vivek, M Silambarasan, S Swaminathan, Gurjapneet Singh, Rangaraj Suthesh, Lakshminarayanan Vignesh
Chepauk Super Gillies: Kaushik Gandhi (c), N Jagadeesan (wk), S Radhakrishnan, Uthirasamy Sasidev, Rajagopal Sathish, Harish Kumar, R Alexander, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Sonu Yadav, Manimaran Siddharth, B Arun
KAUSHIK GANDHI AND SAI KISHORE RALLY CSG TO FINALS
The thing with T20 cricket is that it can take out any team out of the equation if not calculated properly. More than the big hits and the deceptive balls, the experience to have the license to fade away or go guns blazing is what makes the format exciting. The situation was well prevalent in the decider of the second finalist of the TNPL 2021 held at M.A Chidambaram stadium. Defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies held their nerves to defeat the runners up of 2019 edition Dindigul Dragons and set the date for the final showdown.
Chepauk Super Gillies won the toss and elected to field first. They had two changes in Jaganath Sinivas giving way for B Arun and Dev Rahul making way for R Alexander. Dindigul had one change in debutant Vimal Khumar coming in for S Lokeshwar. Openers Hari Nishaanth and Vimal Khumar started for Dindigul while M Siddharth opened the bowling for Chepauk. There was a chance in the first over to dismiss Vimal for a duck but Siddharth overstepped and offered a free hit to the Dindigul side which was put to good use by Hari Nishaanth dispatching it to the boundary. The reprieve which Vimal got was put to good use by slashing two to the boundary off Sonu Yadav in the 2nd over. Vimal again got a reprieve when Jagadeesan failed to collect the ball to stump but soon returned the gift back to Vimal stumping him off the bowling of Sai Kishore. Mani Bharathi joined Hari Nishaanth in the middle and perished within two balls when he holed out to B Arun at backward point.
R Srinivasan joined Hari Nishaanth in the middle. Hari Nishaanth finally broke the shackles and dispatched B Arun over deep mid wicket into the stands. Dindigul finished the powerplay on 32/2.B Arun was a bunny to Hari Nishaanth taking on him, not once, but thrice in the match dispatching him over the same position over deep mid wicket for six. R Srinivasan soon perished, holing out to Sonu Yadav off B Arun. R Vivek joined Hari Nishaanth in the middle. The duo tapped some runs before hoisting to the stands off Sonu Yadav and Sai Kishore. Sai Kishore soon dismissed Vivek caught by Sonu Yadav. Washington Sundar, who was the find of the season in TNPL 2016, joined via video call from UK and had good chat with the memories of him playing for TN, the TNPL, the opportunity to play IPL and for India.
Mokit Hariharan joined Hari Nishaanth in the middle. Meanwhile, Hari Nishaanth reached his half century in 44 balls. He hoisted Harish Kumar to the stands in the 14th over but perished the next ball attempting to clear the ropes, only to be caught stunningly by Sai Kishore. The other batters from the Dindigul tried their best to up the ante but the team soon folded up to 103.
Next came the CSG openers Jagadeesan and K Gandhi with R Sutesh opening the bowling for Dindigul. The duo struggled for the start but soon accelerated post a smashing four to the fence by CSG captain K Gandhi. The duo kept tapping runs and there was a reprieve for Jagadeesan in the 5th over when Gurjapneet failed to hold onto a return catch. K Gandhi was also missed in the same manner by the Dindigul team. K Gandhi then shifted gears and took heavily on young spinner M Silambarasan whom he heaved for four fours and one six in the final over of the powerplay accounting for about 22 runs. CSG finished the powerplay at 45/0.
Jagadeesan finally broke the shackles and slashed Gurjapneet for a boundary. He treated L Vignesh the same way he treated Gurjapneet. Swaminathan came and applied brakes to their partnership dismissing Jagadeesan caught by Mokit Hariharan at deep mid wicket. S Radhakrishnan joined K Gandhi in the middle. The duo tapped runs and hit boundaries with aplomb at intervals and soon K Gandhi reached his half century off 35 balls. But he soon got dismissed by R Sutesh making Gandhi top edge to Swaminathan at covers off a slower ball. Sasidev joined Radhakrishnan in the middle and the duo had just 17 runs between them to close off things for CSG. They took 20 balls with the 20th ball hoisted for a six by Sasidev and fixed their date with Ruby Trichy Warriors in the finals happening on August 15th.
Brief Scores: Dindigul Dragons 103 in 20 overs (Hari Nishaanth 56, Vimal Khumar 11, M Silambarsan 11*; Sai Kishore 3-14, R Alexander 2-3, M Siddharth 1-17, Harish Kumar 1-16) lost to Chepauk Super Gillies 106/2 in 16 overs (Kaushik Gandhi 53, N Jagadeesan 21; S Swaminathan 1-23, R Sutesh 1-12) by 8 wickets.
Player of the Match: Sai Kishore (CSG)
