Match 5: 23rd July 2021
Teams: Ruby Trichy Warriors vs Lyca Kovai Kings
Place: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai
Time: 7:30 PM IST
Probable Lineups
Lyca Kovai Kings: Ganga Sridhar Raju, R Kavin (wk), Sai Sudharsan, Shahrukh Khan (C), Abhishek Tanwar, U Mukilesh, Ashwin Venkataraman, N Selva Kumaran, S Ajith Ram, Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, Elangovan Srinivasan
Ruby Trichy Warriors: K Mukunth, Adithya Ganesh(w), Amit Sathvik, Akash Sumra, Antony Dhas, Saravan Kumar P, Rahil Shah(c), Nidhish Rajagopal, Sumant Jain, M Mathivannan, Sunil Sam
Preview
The last time the two teams met in 2019, Lyca Kovai Kings defeated Ruby Trichy Warriors by 26 runs albeit a T Natrajan special of 4-33. This year both the teams have refurbished and have got fresh new faces in their camps with some veterans and experienced stars moving away from the league and getting traded.
The first games for both the teams have been a fairytale. Lyca started the proceedings in the tournament against Salem Spartans and a Sai Sudarshan special kept the Lyca Kings in the driver’s seat before rains came to the spoilsport. On the contrary, Ruby Trichy Warriors had all the areas ticked with Amit Sathvik special on his debut and Mathivannan spinning a web in just 4 balls of his innings.
Ruby Trichy Warriors would like to have their record broken and have their Head to Head record improved against the Lyca Kovai Kings. Lyca leads Ruby with a 3-1 lead over them, the only loss in the first edition of the tournament where Ruby won the super over against them. In today’s match, Lyca would like to account for their first win and improve their lead while Ruby will be high on confidence after crushing Nellai Royal Kings by 74 runs in their first encounter of the tournament.
Mathivannan/ Courtesy: TNPL
B Sai Sudarshan of Lyca / Courtesy: TNPL
We can see an unchanged playing XI from both the teams and the teams would be wary in testing their whole squad. Shahrukh Khan, captain of Lyca Kovai Kings would like to forget what had happened in his last performance and would be ready to go all guns blazing like he usually does for his state team and his IPL franchise. Debutant Amit Sathvik, who ensured his franchise would not be sinking their ship in the last match, had his stroke making look classy and he played with ease, stitching partnerships and ensuring the team didn't fold up for a low score. Rahil Shah would like to continue his performance with his bowling alongside his partner Mathivannan and repeat their performance from the last match.
Anthony Dhas, who was the saviour and also donned the finisher role for RTW, would like to continue his tonks to the stands with his willow and also take the ball and sling his way to rattle the stumps or fox the batters with the cutters and slow balls. Abhishek Tanwar and Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, the young stars of the Lyca franchise, who did not get a chance to bowl last match due to rain, would like to take the ball and make it walk the talk with the opposition.
Chepauk pitch has been a challenging fort for the teams who have started their tournament this edition and the teams would be looking forward to getting accustomed to the pitch at the earliest to not falter and try for recovery at the last stages.
Dream 11 Teams
Team 1:Adithya Ganesh (RTW), A Sathvik (RTW - Vice Captain), Sai Sudarshan (Lyca - Captain), GS Raju (Lyca), Nidish Rajagopal (RTW), Anthony Dhas (RTW), Shahrukh Khan (Lyca), N Mathivannan (RTW), K Vignesh (Lyca), Sunil Sam (RTW), P Saravana Kumar (RTW)
Team 2: R Kavin (Lyca), A Sathvik (RTW - Captain), G S Raju (Lyca - Vice Captain), K Mukunth (RTW), A Venkatraman (Lyca), A Tanwar (Lyca), A Sumra (RTW), N Mathivannan (RTW), R Shah (RTW), S Ajith Ram (Lyca), E Srinivasan (Lyca)
