TNPL 2022 Digest:
Coimbatore Diaries: The TNPL 2022 continued it’s journey with the third of the four cities being hosted in Coimbatore Sri Ramakrishna College Grounds. We have had some terrific cricketing moments and matches happened at the venue and let’s review each of them.
Easwaran K and Baba Aparajith take Nellai to their first playoffs in TNPL.
Match 14: Nellai Royal Kings (NRK) vs iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans (iDTT).
Date and Time: 10 July 2022 at 3:15 PM IST
In what was a one-sided contest between Nellai Royal Kings and iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans, the former had the last laugh despite the pitch providing more challenges while batting. The TNPL moved it’s bandwagon to the city of Coimbatore where the TNPL is happening for the first time and with a fresh pitch laid out, it was up to the captains to strategize and bring out the best from their teams. Nellai Royal Kings won the toss and elected to field first. The Tamizhans had many changes in S Aniruda aitting out with injury and P Francis Rokins coming in for him, R Rajkumar sitting out and A Karrupusamy coming in for him. As for the Nellai Royal Kings, Sri Neranjan sat our and L Suryappraksh came in and Pradosh Ranjan Paul sat out and Rooban Raj came in for him. Openers from iDTT, S Siddharth and S Aravind started the proceedings and soon the hunt for the wickets started for the Royal Kings. K Easwaran wrecked the top order of the Tamizhans with dismissing S Aravind caught behind by Indrajith first and then following it up with Siddharth holing out to NS Harish in mid on. Easwaran was on a mission to prove his worth when he returned back to dismiss S Anand who graciously gifted his wicket edging to Indrajith behind the stumps. Tamizhans were in a state of bother with the scorecard reading 28/3 in 5.3 overs. Francis Rokins and Maan Bafna were in the middle looking for opportunities to save their team’s sinking ship and they built on a small partnership of 26 runs in 28 balls when Rooban Raj removed Francis Rokins with a high lofted catch to NS Harish in mid off region caught diving. Tushar Raheja joined Maan Bafna in the middle and it was the usual story of the young duo contributing with their willow for the team every time the team is in dire state. The duo waited for opportunities to slash hard the ball to the fence and over the stands and were in course for a 50 run partnership when Aparajith applied the brakes. The duo put up on a partnership of 37 runs in 29 balls with Tushar contributing 18(14) and he getting dismissed with the extra spin from Aparajith rattling the bails. The rest of the batters didn’t contribute much and Tamizhans ended with 117/8 in their quota of 20 overs.
Maan Bafna contributing with his willow
Courtesy: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
K Easwaran’s day out with the ball
Courtesy: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Out came the Nellai openers in NS Harish and L Suryapprakash for the chase. NS Harish started the chase well with a boundary of the first over by Thamarai Kannan but was removed in the next over bowled by stand-in captain M Mohammed caught comfortably by Aswin Crist. Baba Aparajith joined Suryappprakash in the middle and the duo built on a 60-ball 77 run partnership with Suryapprakash scoring 28(28). The duo cut, slashed, drove, flicked, flipped and hoisted the balls bowled by the opposition and didn’t give them a chance to dominate. Suryapprakash was finally dismissed by Aswin Crist caught by wicket keeper Tushar Raheja. Sanjay Yadav, the leading run scorer for Nellai Royal Kings stayed for a short stint and was soon dismissed by M Mohammed. Baba Aparajith was dismissed by Aswin Crist after his diligent 63(46) and Ajitesh, the youngest sensation took Nellai home with the help of his captain Indrajith and ensured Nellai entered the playoffs in style as the first team in TNPL 2022!!
Baba Aparajith of NRK
Courtesy: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Suryapprakash of NRK
Courtesy: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Mohammed of iDTT
Courtesy: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Scoreboard: iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans 117/8 in 20 overs (Maan Bafna 37(35), Tushar Raheja 18(14), K Easwaran 3/11, NS Harish 2/24) lost to Nellai Royal Kings 121/4 in 15.3 overs (B Aparajith 63(46), L Suryapprakash 28(28), M Mohammed 2/29, Aswin Crist A 2/31).
Player of the Match: Baba Aparajith (63(46))
Abhishek Tanwar makes it two in a row for Lyca Kovai Kings.
Match 15: Ruby Trichy Warriors (RTW) vs Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK).
Date and Time: 10 July 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
In what was a difficult pitch to capitalize on the scores and the battle between the bat and the ball, the ball had the ultimate say in the end. Ruby Trichy Warriors after a big defeat against the defending champions had to re-jiggle themselves to keep them alive in the tournament while Lyca Kovai Kings after notching up their maiden win were on high spirits to keep up the momentum and continue the same.
Lyca Kovai Kings won the toss and elected to field. They had no changes to their lineup while Ruby Trichy Warriors had as many as 4 changes in Murali Vijay coming back in place of Adithya Ganesh, Akash Sumra coming in for Muhammad Adnan Khan, Gohulmoorthi coming in for Poiyamozhi and R Ganesh coming in for Saravana Kumar. RTW openers Amit Sathvik and Santosh Shiv started the innings with a positive approach with fluent boundaries and built on a 44 run partnership before LKK captain Shahrukh Khan came and disturbed their partnership with removing Amit Sathvik who scored 18(13) caught by Divakar. 10 balls and 2 runs later, Santosh Shiv was dismissed by the other spinner in Ajith Ram for 28(26) caught by Sai Sudarshan. M Vijay played a lone warrior knock in 61(35) with 5 sixes and 3 fours before he was dismissed by Abhishek Tanwar while others played their role of scoring in single digits except for N Niranjan who scored 17(20). Abhishek Tanwar collected his bounty of 3 wickets giving away 19 runs in his quota of 4 overs. RTW were all out for 135 runs in 19.3 overs.
M Vijay’s lone warrior knock
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Abhishek Tanwar’s day out
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Out came Lyca openers in GS Raju and Suresh Kumar and like the RTW openers, they started their innings breezily with frequent singles and doubles and creating chances and using them to smash the ball to the fence and out of the park. They stitched a 42 run partnership when M Mathivannan applied brakes on their partnership removing Suresh Kumar caught smartly behind the stumps by Amit Sathvik for 15(11). Sai Sudarshan joined GS Raju in the middle and they played a small cameo before Akash Sumra got his maiden wicket in GS Raju cleaning his stumps. Shijit Chandran, Mukilesh tried to stabilize the innings of the Lyca Kovai Kings with Sudarshan but they couldn’t contribute much with the RTW bowlers in Ajay Krishna, Gohul Moorthi and R Ganesh striking with their golden arm to rattle the opposition. Captain Shahrukh Khan played a steady innings to take Lyca home without much harm.
Sai Sudarshan's valiant knock
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Scoreboard: Ruby Trichy Warriors 135/10 in 20 overs (M Vijay 61(35), Santosh Shiv 28(26), Abhishek Tanwar 3/19, R Divakar 2/20) lost to Lyca Kovai Kings 138/5 in 17 overs (Sai Sudarshan 27(24), Shahrukh Khan 24*(23), M Mathivannan 1/21, R Ganesh 1/22).
Player of the Match: Abhishek Tanwar (Spell of 3/19 in 4 overs)
Debut: S Gohulmoorthi (Debut in TNPL – Ruby Trichy Warriors)
R Silambarasan takes Madurai closer to the playoff race.
Match 16: Salem Spartans (SS) vs Siechem Madurai Panthers (SMP).
Date and Time: 11 July 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
The match between the Siechem Madurai Panthers and the Salem Spartans was a special one indeed. It was the 175th match held in TNPL at the prestigious Sri Ramakrishna College Grounds in Coimbatore. Salem Spartans captain M Ashwin won the toss and put Madurai to bat first. Madurai had three changes in K Rajkumar coming in for Anirudh Sita Ram B, Aushik Srinivas coming in for Varun Chakravarthy and P Saravanan coming in for Kiran Akash. Salem had two changes in S Ganesh coming in for Akshay Srinivasan and G Kishoor coming in for B Praanesh. Madurai openers K Rajkumar and KB Arun Karthik came in the middle in pursuit of back to back wins and eyeing for a spot for the playoffs. The duo put on a partnership of 31 runs in 30 balls when G Kishoor broke the partnership dismissing the prime batter Arun Karthik for a meagre 13(13). Madurai were slowly progressing with their run flow while Salem were applying brakes when the threat loomed them removing K Rajkumar and Vignesh Iyer. NS Chaturved and wicket keeper Rithik Easwaran showed resilience in their partnership of 59 runs in 33 balls with Rithik Easwaran showing much promise in his innings of 41(27) laced with 3 fours and 3 sixes while NS Chaturved played the anchor role rotating the strike and giving the big part to the youngster to prove his worth. NS Chaturved then took on the opposition with his tail enders and took his team to a respectable total of 165/7 in 20 overs. For Salem, G Kishoor was the standout performer with the ball with figures of 4-0-39-3.
Rithik Easwaran showing his valor
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
G Kishoor having his day out
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
The Salem batters were never in the game for the chase and had very few memorable partnerships to their name. KH Gopinath, who wreaked havoc against Lyca Kovai Kings didn’t show his worth and soon surrendered to Sunny Sandhu after a brief cameo of 15(7). Except for Pranav Kumar (25*(27)), S Abhishiek and Daryll Ferrario, none of the other players showed their prowess and Salem surrendered to the Panthers from Madurai for 126 with the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs and R Silambarasan from Madurai Panthers was the star of the game in the second innings with figures of 4-0-22-4.
Pranav Kumar of Salem Spartans
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
R Silambarasan’s magic wand with the ball
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Scoreboard: Siechem Madurai Panthers 165/7 in 20 overs (Rithik Easwaran 41(27), NS Chaturved 34(24), G Kishoor 3/39, M Ganesh Moorthi 2/30) defeated Salem Spartans 126/9 in 20 overs (Pranav Kumar 25*(27), Daryll Ferrario 19(13), R Silambarasan 4/22, P Saravanan 2/9).
Player of the Match: Rithik Easwaran (41 (27))
Debut: P Saravanan (Debut in TNPL – Siechem Madurai Panthers)
Sai Kishore, Jagadeesan take CSG home.
Match 17: Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK) vs Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG).
Date and Time: 12 July 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
The race for the spot for playoffs took a hot seat when two strong teams faced each other in a crucial encounter at the SNR College Cricket Grounds, Coimbatore. Chepauk Super Gillies won the toss and elected to field first. Lyca Kovai Kings had one change in Ganga Sridhar Raju giving way for Ashwin Venkatraman and K Vignesh giving way for N Selvakumaran. Lyca had a dull start to the innings with the openers A Venkatraman and Suresh Kumar struggling to find boundaries before M Siddharth arrived and removed A Venkatraman with a down the legside delivery smartly stumped by N Jagadeesan. With this stumping, N Jagadeesan achieved the feat of 50 dismissals behind the stumps in TNPL!! Sai Sudarshan and Suresh Kumar re-built the innings for the Lyca Kings with a 46-ball 61 run partnership with Suresh Kumar finding the fence 4 times and the stands once. He was soon dismissed by Harish Kumar caught comfortably by S Radhakrishnan and Sai Sudarshan followed suit to the pavilion with an unfortunate return run out from Shijit Chandran’s willow. U Mukilesh, Shijit Chandran, N Selva Kumaran went back to the pavilion with very less scores from their bat with Sai Kishore and Alexander webbing them with their deliveries. Abhishek Tanwar joined Sharukh Khan in the middle and both of them were taking time to settle down before Shahrukh Khan ran amock the CSG lineup. He first took on Sai Kishore, hoisting him twice over the stands and also dealing him to the fence. Alexander and Warrier also faced the music from both the batters and they put on a 23 ball 59 run partnership before Abhishek Tanwar was removed by Sonu Yadav in the penultimate over. Shahrukh Khan reached his half century in 28 balls and took Lyca Kovai Kings to a respectable total of 170/7 in 20 overs.
Shahrukh Khan taking on the CSG bowling
Source: TNPL Website
Sai Kishore webbing the LKK batters
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Out came the CSG openers Kaushik Gandhi and N Jagadeesan for the chase of 171 and the duo started positively before Abhishek Tanwar dismissed the CSG captain with a smart delivery holed out to Selva Kumaran at third man. Radhakrishnan joined Jagadeesan in the middle and they built on a small partnership of 32 runs with Jagadeesan hitting most of the runs before Radhakrishnan was dismissed by Ajith Ram for 8(10). U Sasidev soon followed suit to the pavilion with B Surya removing him caught by Mukilesh. CSG used their weapon in sending Sai Kishore to the middle to stabilize the chase and also provide a L-R combo headache to the opposition. It worked wonders with the duo putting up a partnership of 92 runs in 59 balls with equal contribution from both the batters. Jagadeesan notched up his half century. Sai Kishore was soon dismissed by Abhishek Tanwar 2 runs short of his half-century for 48(33) and Tanwar registered 50 wickets in TNPL!!. Jagadeesan was soon dismissed by Abhishek Tanwar for 75(51) and Tanwar returned with figures of 3.5-0-20-3. Harish Kumar and Sonu Yadav finished things for CSG and ensured they pocketed two points to their kitty.
Jagadeesan and Sai Kishore day out in the middle
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Abhishek Tanwar ripping through the CSG lineup
Source: TNPL Website
Scoreboard: Lyca Kovai Kings 170/7 in 20 overs (Shahrukh Khan 51*(28), Abhishek Tanwar 28(12), R Sai Kishore 2/25, M Siddharth 1/24) lost to Chepauk Super Gillies 171/5 in 18.5 overs (N Jagadeesan 75(51), R Sai Kishore 48(33), Abhishek Tanwar 3/20, B Surya 1/27).
Player of the Match: R Sai Kishore (Scoring 48(33) and spell of 4-0-25-2)
Mohan Prasath, Aravind notch up second win for the Tamizhans.
Match 18: Salem Spartans (SS) vs iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans (iDTT).
Date and Time: 13 July 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
In what was a competition of the bottomers of the points table, the Salem Spartans were eyeing for their first win in the tournament while the Tamizhans were gripping hard to cling themselves atop the Spartans. Salem Spartans won the toss and chose to bowl. They had one change in Pranav Kumar giving way for Ravi Karthikeyan and Tamizhans had 3 changes in R Rajkumar coming in for A Karuppusamy, S Manigandan coming in for Gowtham Thamarai Kannan, S Anirudda coming back for captaincy duties replacing S Siddharth. Tamizhans openers S Anirudda and S Aravind came in the middle and started the innings positively with Anirudda showing his class with 4 shots to the fence and one over the stands. The duo made a partnership of 57 runs in 48 balls with Anirudda scoring 32(22) when he was dismissed by Daryll Ferrario’s spin. S Aravind followed suit to the pavilion in 6 balls removed by R Karthikeyan cleaning Aravind’s stumps. There was another strike when Daryll Ferrario returned to remove S Anand caught by KH Gopinath. Tamizhans were in a state of worry with the scoreboard reading 64/3 in 9.5 overs. Maan Bafna and Francis Rokins were the new batters in the middle and the onus was on them to save the sinking ship of the Tamizhans after a good start. The duo put on a 30-ball 39 run partnership when Francis Rokins was dismissed on 17(20) by G Kishoor. The Tamizhans then huffed and puffed and reached the score of 135/5 in 20 overs. Daryll Ferrario returned the best figures of 4-0-21-2.
Anirudda’s flamboyant effort
Source: TNPL Website
Daryll Ferrario’s spin magic
Source: TNPL Website / Star Sports HD
Out came the Salem openers in KH Gopinath and R Kavin. Salem innings was never an interesting puzzle but rather an easy one to crack. The batters of Salem who dominated the league at the early stages looked clueless against the bowling attack of Tiruppur Tamizhans. The only tellable partnership was between R Kavin and S Ganesh with the latter contributing 19(23) in their 37-ball 33 run partnership. For the Tamizhans, spinners S Aravind and Mohan Prasath had a feast as they picked 5 wickets between them giving away only 23 runs in their quota of 4 overs each. For the Spartans, Ravi Karthikeyan top scored with 36(25). Tamizhans romped home with 2 points to their kitty and Salem were left reeling with 0 wins in the 4 matches they have played.
Mohan Prasath’s day with the ball
Source: TNPL Website
Ravi Karthikeyan’s lone warrior knock
Source: TNPL Website
S Aravind’s day with the ball
Source: TNPL Website
Scoreboard: iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans 135/5 in 20 overs (S Anirudda 32(22), Maan Bafna 29(29), Daryll Ferrario 2/21, R Karthikeyan 1/22) defeated Salem Spartans 103/10 in 19.2 overs (R Karthikeyan 36(25), S Ganesh 19(23), S Mohan Prasath 3/11, S Aravind 2/12).
Player of the Match: S Aravind (Scoring 25 (30) and spell of 4-0-12-2)
Baba Aparajith and Sanjay Yadav create history, Mural Vijay’s ton in vain.
Match 19: Nellai Royal Kings (NRK) vs Ruby Trichy Warriors (RTW).
Date and Time: 15 July 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
In what was the most enthralling and record-breaking match in the history of TNPL, Nellai Royal Kings had the better of the match with a straight 6th win in the TNPL 2022. They are the only team till now to maintain a clean record of 6/6 wins played till now in the TNPL 2022. Ruby Trichy Warriors won the toss and elected to field first. They had 3 changes in Anthony Dhas coming back for Akash Sumra, Adithya Ganesh coming back for N Niranjan and P Saravana Kumar coming back for M Mathivannan. Nellai had one change in Sri Neranjan coming back for Rooban Raj. Nellai openers Sri Neranjan and L Suryapprakash started the innings but soon got dismissed and reached the pavilion with Sri Neranjan scoring 5(9) and Suryappprakash scoring 18(11). The score read 29/2 in 3.4 overs when the new batters in Sanjay Yadav and Baba Aparajith joined in the middle. This was the last good thing which happened to the RTW bowling lineup. The duo of Aparajith-Sanjay created TNPL record of partnership of 207 runs from 101 balls and totally towed own the opposition bowlers. While Aparajith made a resilient 92*(48) with 5 fours and 8 sixes, Sanjay Yadav was the star of the first innings with a score of 103*(55) with his century coming in the penultimate ball of the first innings. He scored 6 fours and 9 sixes in his century innings. Nellai Royal Kings scored 236/2 in 20 overs.
Sanjay Yadav of NRK
Source: TNPL Instagram Handle
Baba Aparajith of NRK
Source: TNPL Instagram Handle
TNPL record partnership
Source: TNPL Instagram Handle
Out came the RTW openers M Vijay and Santosh in pursuit of the chase of 237 runs in 20 overs. M Vijay survived a scare when he was on 0(2) when Shahjahan missed his catch offered at short covers position. He was once again dropped when he was in his 70s by the same Shahjahan in deep mid wicket and Murali Vijay used the two opportunities and went on to score his highest TNPL score in 121 (66) with 7 fours and 12 sixes in his innings. He was the lone warrior in his team’s score of 170/7 in 20 overs with Vijay getting dismissed on the last ball of the match caught cleanly by Baba Indrajith. Except for his innings, the RTW batter had a sorry state of affairs with their willow. Aparajith was the pick of bowlers from NRK with 2/38 in his quota of 4 overs. There was a total of 406 runs scored in 40 overs in the match!!!
Murali Vijay of RTW
Source: TNPL Instagram Handle
Baba Aparajith celebrating a wicket
Source: TNPL Website
Scoreboard: Nellai Royal Kings 236/2 in 20 overs (Sanjay Yadav 103*(55), Baba Aparajith 92*(48), Rahil Shah 1/13, Saravana Kumar 1/42) defeated Ruby Trichy Warriors 170/7 in 20 overs (M Vijay 121(66), Adithya Ganesh 13(12), B Aparajith 2/38, K Easwaran 2/42).
Player of the Match: Sanjay Yadav (Scoring 103*(55) and spell of 4-0-30-1)
Suresh Kumar and Sai Sudarshan inch Kovai Kings closer to playoffs.
Match 20: Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK) vs iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans (iDTT).
Date and Time: 16 July 2022 at 3:15 PM IST
In what was a mutual qualifier for the Lyca Kovai Kings to qualify for the playoffs, they had an easy task taken out against the iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans. Lyca Kovai Kings won the toss and elected to field first. N Selva Kumaran and A Venkatraman sat out while K Vignesh and GS Raju came in for the Lyca Kovai Kings while for the iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans S Manigandan and Francis Rokins sat out for Dinesh Karthik and L Sathiyanarayan. iDTT openers S Aniruda and S Aravind started the proceedings and the team went to a blazing start thanks to S Anirudda who smashed K Vignesh for 22 runs in the second over with 3 towering sixes and one boundary. Aniruda the took on S Ajith Ram who was dealt with two sixes in his first over. The duo reached their 50-run partnership in 26 balls and were on a roll taking their team forward to a respectable total when the destruction started. S Aniruda was dismissed by B Surya off a quicker delivery with Anirudda holing it out to Shijit Chandran at mid-wicket. Dinesh Karthik joined S Aravind in the middle and soon lost his partner when a sweep caused the balls to rattle the stumps of Aravind off a B Surya delivery. The Tamizhans then went to the defensive mode and never recovered back. Only D Karthik and Tushar Raheja had a good partnership of 36 runs in 25 balls after the opening partnership whom were dismissed with a double strike from Ajith Ram. The Tamizhans lost wickets at intervals and scored some runs and ended the first innings on 157/7 in 20 overs with a cameo at the end from Maan Bafna who scored 20*(10).
S Anirudda on song vs LKK
Source: TNPL Website
Ajith Ram on hunting mode vs iDTT
Source: TNPL Website
B Surya of LKK
Source: TNPL Website
Out came the LKK openers J Suresh Kumar and GS Raju. GS Raju soon perished off a snarky delivery from L Sathiyanarayan offering a return catch to the bowler himself after scoring 5(7). Sai Sudarshan joined forces with Suresh Kumar in the middle and the duo had a memorable partnership of 151*(82) with Suresh Kumar scoring 83*(44) and Sudarshan scoring 68*(41). Suresh took after the pacers and Sudarshan on the spinners and as many as 7 bowlers were used by S Anirudda but none couldn’t stop the flow of runs from the blade of both the batters as they kept tormenting the opposition with regular rotation of runs and finding gaps to lodge them over the stands and also sending their plans to the corner with poetic drives to the fence. Lyca Kovai Kings, with this win, have almost had their playoffs chances sealed in TNPL 2022.
Suresh Kumar of LKK
Source: TNPL Website
Sai Sudarshan on song against iDTT
Source: TNPL Website
Scoreboard: iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans 157/7 in 20 overs (S Anirudda 39(21), S Aravind 27(31), B Surya 3/19, S Ajith Ram 2/27) lost to Lyca Kovai Kings 158/1 in 15.2 overs (J Suresh Kumar 83*(44), B Sai Sudarshan 68*(41), L Sathiyanarayan 1/36).
Player of the Match: J Suresh Kumar (Scoring 83*(44))
Sonu Yadav and Kaushik Gandhi keep playoffs hopes alive for CSG.
Match 21: Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG) vs Dindigul Dragons (DD).
Date and Time: 16 July 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
The defending champions had an easy outing against the Dindigul Dragons in the final match of the Coimbatore leg and kept their playoffs hopes in the tournament. Chepauk Super Gillies won the toss and elected to field. They retained the same team from the last match and Dindigul had one change in R Ashwin coming in place of AG Pradeep and captaining the side. Dindigul openers Vishal Vaidhya and Hari Nishaanth started the proceedings for the Dragons but it was horrendous for the Dragons as both the openers went out cheaply. Hari Nishaanth was the first dismissal offering himself to Kaushik Gandhi of the bowling of Sonu Yadav. The next ball, Vishal Vaidhya was run out albeit a confusion between him and R Ashwin. RS Mokit Hariharan joined Ashwin in the middle and didn’t stay much as he was dismissed soon by R Alexander caught by Sai Kishore scoring 6(7). Ashwin was struck at one end with no partners to support when Mani Bharathy came and had a small partnership of 43 runs in 41 balls. Ashwin scored 25(29) with 2 fours and 1 six when he was dismissed by M Siddharth. Now the Dragons were reeling at 58/4 in 11.3 overs and were blinking at posting a good total. All rounder R Vivek joined Mani Bharathy in the middle and the duo made a respectable partnership of 59 runs in 45 balls with Mani Bharathy scoring 37(37) with 4 fours and 1 six and getting dismissed to Sonu Yadav. The last over bowled by Harish Kumar went for 18 runs and Vivek ended the innings with 61*(38) with 4 fours and 4 sixes to his name. Dindigul Dragons ended the first innings on 138/5.
R Ashwin playing a cameo
Source: Dindigul Dragons Instagram Handle
Mani Bharathy assault vs CSG
Source: Dindigul Dragons Instagram Handle
R Vivek’s late surge
Source: Dindigul Dragons Instagram Handle
Sonu Yadav’s day out with the ball
Source: TNPL Instagram Handle
Out came the CSG openers N Jagadeesan and Kaushik Gandhi in pursuit of the chase. They started well with some dropped chances from R Vivek and built on a 64 run partnership of 56 balls with Jagadeesan scoring 31(30) and getting dismissed by K Monish caught by Hari Nishaanth. Sasidev joined Kaushik Gandhi in the middle and built a cameo partnership of 25 runs in 18 balls when Kaushik Gandhi was dismissed by K Monish leg before the stumps. Kaushik Gandhi missed his half century scoring 44(38) with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Sonu Yadav was promoted as he was given less chances to prove himself as quoted by Kaushik Gandhi in the post-match presentation and he kept his captain’s words true by hitting a cameo of 26(18) and his innings laced with 3 towering sixes. The rest of the CSG lineup didn’t bring much food to the plate and were going down with single digit scores when finally Harish Kumar nicked one to deep backward point to have CSG pocket their two points to their kitty.
Captain Kaushik Gandhi on charge
Source: CSG Instagram handle
N Jagadeesan on song in his innings
Source: CSG Insta Handle
K Monish’s day out with the ball
Source: TNPL Website
Scoreboard: Dindigul Dragons 138/5 in 20 overs (R Vivek 61(38), Mani Bharathy 37(37), R Ashwin 25(29), Sonu Yadav 2/19, R Alexander 1/17) lost to Chepauk Super Gillies 139/5 in 19.2 overs (Kaushik Gandhi 44(38), N Jagadeesan 31(30), Sonu Yadav 26(18), K Monish 2/23, M Silambarasan 1/28).
Player of the Match: Sonu Yadav (Scoring 26(18) and a spell of 2/19)
Coimbatore Leg Review: A new venue for the TNPL which was earlier used by the TN state team for the Ranji Trophy practice turned out to be a run fest for the viewers as people turned out full stands for all matches and the entertainment was no less than what was showcased in the Tirunelveli leg. The race for the playoffs has heated up with the final leg at Salem going to start on 19th July which will decide the remaining 3 spots for the playoffs with 4 teams fighting it tooth and nail to capture the spots (Chepauk Super Gillies, Lyca Kovai Kings, Siechem Madurai Panthers and iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans). Kudos to the curators and the ground staff for preparing such pitches which made the matches go thrilling till the end of the 40 overs. Young talents emerging from TNPL is the usual norm and this season is no lesser than it is. Be it Suresh Kumar of LKK blasting at the top or K Easwaran of NRK foxing the batters with his pace or B Surya of LKK dismantling with his quick deliveries, the Coimbatore leg of the TNPL 2022 was equally exciting and we would be expecting more from the venue in the upcoming days.
Points Table until Match 21:
ATHER ELECTRIC Leaderboard (Orange Cap):
ATHER ELECTRIC Leaderboard (Purple Cap):
