The TNPL 2022 started it’s journey with the first of the four cities being hosted in Tirunelveli India Cements Ltd. Cricket Ground. We have had some interesting cricketing moments and matches happened at the venue and let’s review each of them.
Sanjay Yadav cruises Nellai to a thrilling win in the opening game of TNPL 2022
Match 1: Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG) vs Nellai Royal Kings (NRK).
Date and Time: 23 June, 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
The TNPL 2022 started with the defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies taking on the Nellai Royal Kings at the ICL Ground. A flat pitch which was ready to provide a run feast for the audience was awaiting. CSG captain Kaushik Gandhi won the toss and elected to field first. Out came the Nellai openers Pradosh Ranjan Paul and Suryap Prakash. Pradosh was soon castled by Sandeep Warrier caught by M Siddharth. Baba Aparajith came out to assure there would be some good batting but disappointed the fans by gifting his wicket to M Siddharth. Soon after Nellai captain Baba Indrajith followed suit to the pavilion castled by Sonu Yadav and the Nellai Royal Kings were in a spot of bother with the scoreboard reading 27/3 in 5.2 overs. Out came Sanjay Yadav and the duo of Sanjay Yadav and Suryap Paksh stitched a valuable partnership of 133 runs from 75 balls with Sanjay Yadav scoring 87* (47) and Suryap Prakash scoring 62 (50). The partnership was broken by Harish Kumar who picked his 50th wicket in TNPL dismissing Suryap Prakash caught by M Siddharth. Debutant Ajitesh G came and hit a cameo of 16*(8) and Nellai set CSG a target of 185 in 20 overs.
Sanjay Yadav
Source: Nellai Royal Kings Instagram Handle
Sanjay Yadav and Suryap Prakash in action
Source: Nellai Royal Kings Instagram Handle
Out came CSG with the run chase and openers Jagadeesan and captain Kaushik Gandhi started the proceedings. Jagadeesan was attacking the Nellai bowling while Kaushik Gandhi was anchoring the innings. During the 4th over, Jagadeesan was run out in the non-strikers end by Aparajith when the batter went out of the crease before the delivery was completed and this caused fury with Jagadeesan and he showed dissent to the decision to Aparajith. S Radhakrishnan soon followed suit to the pavilion when he was dismissed by Sanjay Yadav caught by G Ajitesh. U Sasidev, Kaushik Gandhi and Sonu Yadav kept the scoreboard ticking by hitting boundaries at intervals and rotating the strike before the scoreboard read 170-7 in the 19th over. On the other hand, Harish Kumar was trying to control the opposition bowling by anchoring and hitting boundaries when he found gaps. The final over was bowled by Athisayaraj Davidson and Harish Kumar took on him and drew the match in the last ball with a top edged boundary to third man.
Harish Kumar
Source: Chepauk Super Gillies Instagram Handle
The match went into the “Super Over” and CSG set a target of 10 runs for the Nellai Royal Kings and Sanjay Yadav took suit to hit most of the runs and Ajitesh finished the run chase with a single of the penultimate ball to give Nellai Royal Kings their first win of the season in TNPL 2022.
Scoreboard: Nellai Royal Kings 184/4 in 20 overs (Sanjay Yadav 87*(47), Suryap Prakash L 62 (50), G Ajitesh 16*(8), Harish Kumar 1/30, Sandeep Warrier 1/35) drew with Chepauk Super Gillies 184/7 in 20 overs (Kaushik Gandhi 64(43), Sonu Yadav 34(23),Harish Kumar 26*(12), Sanjay Yadav 2/27, Trilok Nag 1/25).
Super Over: CSG: 9/1 in 6 balls; Nellai 10/1 in 5 balls
Player of the Match: Sanjay Yadav (87*(47) and figures of 4-0-27-2 with the ball)
Debutant: G Ajitesh (TNPL debut – Nellai Royal Kings), M Shahjahan (Debut for Nellai Royal Kings).
Nidhish Rajagopal and Adithya Ganesh guide Ruby Trichy Warriors to thier first win in TNPL 2022.
Match 2: Ruby Trichy Warriors (RTW) vs Dindigul Dragons(DD).
Date and Time: 24 June, 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
TNPL 2021 runners-up Ruby Trichy Warriors were up against the semi-finalists of TNPL 2021 Dindigul Dragons. Ruby Trichy Warriors captain Rahil Shah won the toss and put Dindigul Dragons to bat first. Openers Hari Nishaanth and AG Pradeep came to the middle and started cautiously before Hari Nishaanth took on last year’s purple cap winner Saravana Kumar when he bludgeoned him for 20 runs in the 3rd over. Soon, the Dindigul captain was removed by debutant Ajay Krishna S in the 4th over caught by Adnan Khan. Interesting fact about Ajay Krishna is that he has been a net bowler for CSK for almost 2 years and is an impressive pacer to be watched out reckoned the RTW captain Rahil Shah. Mani Bharathy and Vishal Vaidhya tried to compose the innings with some sensible batting but soon they also were sent back to the pavilion by spinners Rahil Shah and Yazh Arun Mozhi. The Dindigul batting couldn’t capitalize and didn’t build partnerships and were reeling at 128-8 until the 19th over. The final over of the first innings bowled by Saravana Kumar was taken by DD all rounder L Vignesh who smashed him for 16 runs and Saravana Kumar returned with bad figures of 3-0-50-1. Debutant Ajay Krishna was the standout performer for RTW with figures of 4-1-9-2. Dindigul set Trichy a target of 145 in 20 overs.
Hari Nishaanth in action
Source: Dindigul Dragons Instagram Handle
Ajay Krishna from RTW
Source: Ruby Trichy Warriors Instagram Handle
Out came the Trichy openers Amit Sathvik and Murali Vijay. While Vijay was anchoring the run chase, Amit Sathvik took on L Vignesh and R Sutesh before he gave his wicket to debutant Manoj Kumar caught brilliantly by Mokit Hariharan. Murali Vijay soon followed suit when he was run out directly by a close-in throw off M Silambarasan and the Warriors were reeling at 33/2 in 5 overs. Out came Nidhish Rajagopal and Adithya Ganesh and they ensured no harm would be caused to the team’s run chase. They paused, played and executed the shots with perfection. There were few chances offered by the duo during the chase which was graciously dropped by the Dindigul fielders and that added strength to the Warriors batters. Catches win matches, truly said. The duo then went on to achieve the target set in 19 overs giving them their first win of the season.
Mokit Hariharan
Source: Dindigul Dragons Instagram Handle
Adithya Ganesh and Nidhish Rajagopal
Source: Ruby Trichy Warriors Instagram Handle
Scoreboard: Dindigul Dragons 144/8 in 20 overs (L Vignesh 32*(20), Hari Nishaanth 25(15), Ajay Krishna 2/9, Rahil Shah 2/24) lost to Ruby Trichy Warriors 147/2 in 19 overs (Nidhish Rajagopal 64*(48), Adithya Ganesh 37(38), Manoj Kumar 1/31).
Player of the Match: Ajay Krishna (Figures of 4-1-9-2 with the ball)
Debutants: Manoj Kumar, AG Pradeep, Monish Satish (Debut in TNPL – Dindigul Dragons), Vishal Vaidhya (Debut for Dindigul Dragons), Ajay Krishna (Debut in TNPL – Ruby Trichy Warriors).
Madurai bowlers crush defending champions chance for a win.
Match 3: Siechem Madurai Panthers (SMP) vs Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG).
Date and Time: 25 June, 2022 at 3:15 PM IST
Siechem Madurai Panthers opened their account in TNPL 2022 with a crushing win over defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies in their first encounter and ensured they pocketed two points to their account. NS Chaturved, captain of SMP won the toss and put CSG to bat first and that worked wonders for the team when their debutant Sunny Sandhu removed CSG captain Kaushik Gandhi in the first over and their premium pacer Kiran Akash removing Jagadeesan in the next over. S Sujay and Sonu Yadav were trying to build a partnership before Varun Chakravarthy and Kiran Aakash ran through both of them removing at short intervals.
Kiran Akash
Source: TNPL Website
Sunny Sandhu
Source: TNPL Website
Varun Chakravarthy
Source: TNPL Website
While wickets got tumbling at one end, southpaw Sasidev ensured his team would end with a decent score by scoring a patient 58(43) and Harish Kumar scored 39*(43). CSG gave a target of 136 in 20 overs for Madurai Panthers.
Out came the Madurai openers Arun Karthick and Aaditya for the chase and the duo started their innings breezily with timely shots to the fence and the stands and were slowly building the partnership when Sandeep Warrier removed Aaditya caught by R Satish. In came Anirudh Sita Ram and he ensured Madurai would romp home with 2 points to their pocket. He cut, drove, lofted and his innings was a treat to the eyes of the people watching the match at Tirunelveli ICL ground. While Anirudh was giving his all to the chase, the others didn’t give much support to him. Captain NS Chaturved got run out in a bizarre manner and J Kousik didn’t attempt to hit some runs and both returned to the pavilion with ducks. Debutant Sunny Sandhu gave some impetus to the chase and supported Anirudh and both ensured that things got completed smoothly.
Scoreboard: Chepauk Super Gillies 135/8 in 20 overs (U Sasidev 58(43), Harish Kumar 39*(43), Kiran Akash 3/34, Varun Chakravarthy 2/28) lost to Siechem Madurai Panthers 136/6 in 18.1 overs (Anirudh Sita Ram B 58*(41), Arun Karthick KB 31(22), R Alexandar 3/20, Sandeep Warrier 1/26).
Player of the Match: Anirudh Sita Ram B (58*(41))
Debutants: Sunny Sandhu (Debut in TNPL – Siechem Madurai Panthers)
Young Ajitesh bombards Salem’s bowling
Match 4: Salem Spartans (SS) vs Nellai Royal Kings (NRK).
Date and Time: 25 June, 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
Opportunity knocks the door only once, grab it with both hands when it is knocking at your door! Young, dynamic and sensational youngster Ajitesh from the Nellai Royal Kings took good use of his opportunity and made it work splendidly when he guided his team to their second win in the tournament. Nellai captain Indrajith put Salem captain M Ashwin to bat first. Nellai had one change in Arya Yohan Menon making way for Trilok Nag. The match started with debutant Jaffar Jamal starting the proceedings with hitting 11 runs off the first over bowled by Athisayaraj Davidson. He was dismissed off the first ball bowled by debutant Arya Yohan Menon when Sanjay Yadav caught Jaffar in mid off. KH Gopinath soon followed suit when he was dismissed by Athisayaraj Davidson. Last year Salem captain Daryll Ferrario and new keeper in Kavin stitched a partnership of 91 runs between them and ensured that the team didn’t face any struggle during their innings. Kavin poised his innings with some lusty blows to the stands and Daryll Ferrario carved his innings with sweet timed boundaries. As the partnership was inching towards the 100 run mark, NS Harish came and disturbed the run flow for Salem. He first dismissed Kavin caught by Suryap Prakash off a stunner in point region and then removed Ravi Karthikeyan smartly stumped by Indrajith. Wickets kept tumbling at one end but Daryll Ferrario held fort and gave a target of 150 in 20 overs for Nellai Royal Kings.
R Kavin in action
Source: TNPL Website
Daryll Ferrario
Source: TNPL Website
NS Harish
Source: TNPL Website
Out came Nellai openers Pradosh Ranjan Paul and Suryap Prakash for the run chase. Pradosh was dismissed off the first over of the second innings when he was caught by Kavin off a juggle bowled by B Praanesh. B Aparajith joined Suryap Prakash and both stitched a partnership of 62 runs before Suryap Prakash was dismissed on 35 (27) by G Kishoor. Indrajith joined his brother B Aparajith and made some run before a miscommunication between him and Indrajith led to the runout of the former. Sanjay Yadav soon followed Aparajith with a duck to the pavilion when he was dismissed off his first ball by G Kishoor. Ajitesh G joined Indrajith in the middle and took control of the game when he smashed 48*(25) which has a culmination of lusty blows to the stands and neatly timed boundaries and took his team to the top in the points table.
G Ajitesh
Source: TNPL Website
Scoreboard: Salem Spartans 149/7 in 20 overs (Daryll Ferrario 60*(49), R Kavin 48(37), Athisayraj Davidson 2/28, NS Harish 2/30) lost to Nellai Royal Kings 152/5 in 17.4 overs (G Ajitesh 48*(25), L Suryapprakash 35(27), G Kishoor 2/40, Ravi Karthikeyan 1/20).
Player of the Match: G Ajitesh (48*(25))
Debutants: Arya Yohan Menon (Debut in TNPL – Nellai Royal Kings), Jaffar Jamal and G Kishoor (Debut in TNPL – Salem Spartans), R Kavin (Debut for Salem Spartans).
Captain leading from the front ensures Dindigul open their account in TNPL 2022.
Match 5: Lyca Kovai Kings (LKK) vs Dindigul Dragons (DD).
Date and Time: 26 June 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
When it comes to the battle between these two sides, it is always a run fest! The last time both the teams met in 2021, 403 runs were hit by both the teams and Dindigul was the clear winner in the game. The same thing happened when both the teams me at the ICL ground and DD captain Hari Nishaanth won the toss and put Lyca to bat first. Wicket keeper Suresh Kumar and Ganga Sridhar Raju started the innings with flamboyancy targeting the lead pacers R Sutesh and L Vignesh. The duo put up the half century stand and were cruising well when R Vivek came and applied the brakes on the innings of the Lyca batters. He first removed Suresh Kumar and then went on to remove GS Raju in a span of 10 balls. Last edition’s sensation Sai Sudarshan was dismissed cheaply by Monish Satish and the boat was slightly sinking for the Lyca Kovai Kings at 80/3 in 10.2 overs. In came Shijit Chandran, who was picked from the Madurai franchise and U Mukilesh and both ensured that the Kings had not to sweat hard to keep the momentum. The duo cut, drove, sleazed and bombarded the bowling unit of the Dragons and the Dragons literally were searching for answers. They were sailing well on their 78 run partnership when R Sutesh and M Silambarasan partnered to dismantle the batters and bring back the momentum to the Dragons.
Suresh Kumar in action
Source: Lyca Kovai Kings Instagram Handle
U Mukilesh
Source: Lyca Kovai Kings Instagram Handle
Shijit Chandran
Source: Lyca Kovai Kings Instagram Handle
Lyca captain Shahrukh Khan hit some lusty blows down the order but soon got out holing to Vishal Vaidhya off R Sutesh bowling and the rest didn’t contribute much. Lyca Kovai Kings set Dindigl Dragons a target of 189 to chase.
Out came the Dindigul openers Hari Nishaanth and Vishal Vaidhya and both of them got into the thick of things and did not waste a minute to settle and score. They ensured that the chase was set in the best way possible by them so that the others can build around them and play freely to pick up their first win. The duo put on the first 100-run opening wicket partnership and were almost set when Divakar from Lyca Kovai Kings came and dismissed captain Hari Nishaanth who scored 60(36). Hari Nishaanth achieved the milestone of 1000 runs for Dindigul Dragons in TNPL through this innings. Soon, Dindigul started to lose the momentum when Lyca captain Shahrukh Khan came into bowl and was containing the run flow and doing his part of picking wickets to change the gears towards his team. But AG Pradeep and R Vivek had other plans. While Pradeep was anchoring on one side, Vivek was bludgeoning the bowlers by hoisting them to long sixes and planting the balls atop the trees planted in the stadium. Though there was a little rattle to their chase, both of them ensured that they reached the finish line without much fuss. Another milestone achieved in this game was Vishal Vaidhya reaching 500 runs in TNPL.
Captain Hari Nishaanth leading from the front
Source: Dindigul Dragons Instagram Handle
R Vivek’s day out
Source: Dindigul Dragons Instagram Handle
Scoreboard: Lyca Kovai Kings 188/8 in 20 overs (U Mukilesh 49(25), Suresh Kumar 37(24), Shijit Chandran 30(20, R Vivek 3/35, M Silambarasan 2/22, R Sutesh 2/44) lost to Dindigul Dragons 190/5 in 19.2 overs (Hari Nishaanth 60(36), Vishal Vaidhya 49(40, R Vivek 22(10), Shahrukh Khan 2/35, R Divakar 2/39).
Player of the Match: Hari Nishaanth (60(36))
Debutants: Shijit Chandran and Mohan Abhinav (Debut for Lyca Kovai Kings), M Raja (Debut in TNPL – Lyca Kovai Kings)
Tiruppur Tamizhans sweat it hard against Ruby Trichy Warriors
Match 6: iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans (iDTT) vs Ruby Trichy Warriors (RTW).
Date and Time: 27 June 2022 at 7:15 PM IST
Receiving the wooden spoon in a tournament for one edition and coming back with a strong mentality is such a difficult one and even though we say, we have to put back the past, sometimes it comes haunting at us. But the men from Tiruppur put it all behind and sweated it our hard when they met Ruby Trichy Warriors in their opening game of the season. Captain Aniruda Srikkanth won the toss and elected to field first which did not go well for the Tamizhans. Ruby Trichy Warriors had one change in Mathivannan coming in for Yazh Arun Mozhi. Openers Murali Vijay and Amit Sathvik from RTW took good advantage of the pitch and ensured they started the game very breezily and also kept the opponent on check in the Powerplay. Vijay showed his class of style flicking Mohammed and Aswin Crist to the stands and cautiously playing Mohan Prasath since the pitch was slightly advantageous to the left arm spinners. Mohammed removed Vijay towards the end of the powerplay with a top edged delivery offering very graciously to wicket keeper Tushar Raheja. Aswin Crist sent Amit Sathvik back to the pavilion soon and it was upto the heroes of last match Adithya Ganesh and Nidhish Rajagopal. When the fans were believing that the duo would take the game interestingly, debutant from Tiruppur franchise L Sathiyannaarayan removed Nidhish Rajagopal caught stunningly by Rajkumar at the deep. The Trichy Warriors were in a spot of bother when wickets kept tumbling and were reeling at 112/6 in 14.2 overs. Then came the hero for the Warriors in Mathivannan who took the Warriors innings to 157 in 20 overs with a blistering cameo of 27*(18) and he specifically targeted the pacers when he treated Mohammed to two sky rocketing sixes in the 19th over.
Mathivannan in his prime form
Source: Ruby Trichy Warriors Instagram Handle
Murali Vijay with his stylish play
Source: Ruby Trichy Warriors Instagram Handle
Out came the Tamizhans to chase the target of 158 and they were in a sorry state of bother when the RTW bowlers started their hunt for the wickets. Saravana Kumar removed both the openers in Aniruda Srikkanth and S Siddharth, the former caught by wicket keeper Adithya Ganesh and the latter having his middle stump uprooted. The score read 17/2 in 1.5 overs and in came the duo of Anand Subramanian and Maan Baafna. The duo stitched a partnership of 61 runs in 51 balls and were in good shape and spirits before Mathivannan and Poiyamozhi came to the party and removed both the batters in the space of 6 balls and Tiruppur were blinking with what was lying ahead of them. But the spirits never died down when Tushar Raheja and M Mohammed joined after the fall of 6 wickets. The duo put on the partnership of 60 runs in 29 balls with Mohammed playing the attacking role and hitting a cameo of 29*(15). His innings was filled with 2 fours and 2 sixes and that changed the momentum of the game.
Anand Subramanian and Maan Baafna
Source: iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans Instagram Handle
Tushar Raheja and Mohammed
Source: iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans Instagram Handle
Winning moment from Mohammed
Source: iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans Instagram Handle
Scoreboard: Ruby Trichy Warriors 157/6 in 20 overs (M Vijay 34(16), M Mathivannan 27*(18), A Crist 2/41, Mohan Prasath 1/14, M Mohammed 1/38) lost to iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans 158/6 in 18.5 overs (Tushar Raheja 42*(26), Anand Subramanian 35(26), M Mohammed 29*(15), Saravana Kumar 3/44, M Mathivannan 2/20).
Player of the Match: M Mohammed (27*(18) and figures of 4-0-38-1)
Debutants: L Sathiyannaarayan (Debut in TNPL – iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans).
Review of Tiruelveli Leg: The Tirunelveli leg of the TNPL 2022 showed that there is much competition between the franchises and it's players to place their hands on the coveted trophy and work hard and smart to show who they are and set their sights on the scouts. The pitches were so sporting that it had a good comeptiton between the bat and the ball and the curators and the groundsment deserve our hat. With an entertainng start and finish to the Tirunelveli leg, the bandwagon now moves to Dindigul from June 30 - July 7 and an exciting week of cricket is being ready for the fans.
At the end of the Tirunelveli leg, the Ather Orange Cap and Purple Cap standing is as follows:
Source: TNPL Instagram Handle
Source: TNPL Instagram Handle
Points Table until Match 6:
