KH Gopinath and R Sathish helped Chepauk Super Gillies chase down 144 to win the maiden India Cements Ltd TNPL title beating the defending champions Albert TuTi Patriots by six wickets at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday. Having never won against TuTi in TNPL history, Chepauk won when it mattered the most and during the big finals.
It wasn't easy for Chepauk as chasing a moderate total, they got off to a cautious start, punishing only the loose balls. In spite of being 41 for no loss in the power play, Chepauk lost the momentum when Akash Sumra bowled a maiden over. With the required run rate increasing, Thaliana Sargunam went for the big one only to hit it straight to Kaushik Gandhi at point, off Aushik Srinivas (1 for 17). In the next four overs, Chepauk could add just 11 runs with the loss of a wicket and they required 92 off the last ten. After a gap of 33 deliveries, KH Gopinath managed to hit one to the fence as Karthik finished the over with a six. But Washington Sundar struck the very next over removing Karthik and Antony Dhas followed him soon, hitting one to Aushik at deep mid-wicket, off Athisayaraj Davidson.
Gopinath (50) got to this half-century keeping Chepauk in the hunt as his team required 52 runs in the last five overs. Athisayaraj (2 for 30) removed the all-important wicket of a well settled Gopinath and now Chepauk had two new batsmen in, still requiring more than 10 runs per over. A six each by the skipper R Satish and Vasanth Saravanan in the same over shifted the momentum slightly towards Chepauk. The duo carried on as the equation boiled down to 22 runs required in the last two overs. There was no 20th over required as Sathish and Saravanan finished in the 19th over, which went for 23 runs including 2 sixes and a boundary, all the boundaries hit by Saravanan. The match winning partnership faced 22 deliveries and added 52 runs.
Opting to bat first, luck favored TuTi early when Sundar was dropped in the very second ball by Antony Dhas at long on, off Sai Kishore. The drop didn’t prove too costly as the Chepauk skipper struck in the fourth over as he sent back the top runner getter of the tournament, after Sai Kishore didn’t make a mistake at mid-on. There was then a 42-minute rain interruption immediately after which Kaushik Gandhi was caught by the Chepauk keeper off R Alexander as Chepauk crawled back slowly into the game. It was then up to the experienced Abhinav Mukund (41) and Dinesh Karthik to pile on the runs, but the left arm spin trio of Arun Kumar (2 for 29), Alexander and Sai Kishore were successful in stemming the run flow.
With runs getting difficult to come by, Arun Kumar struck twice in two overs removing both the star batsmen and TuTi batting found themselves in a sticky situation for the first ever time in the tournament. SP Nathan tried to counter attack, but Sai Kishore (2 for 25) sent back Nathan and Annand Subramanian in consecutive deliveries as TuTi were truly in all sorts of trouble at 120 for 6. The lower middle order struggled as wickets kept tumbling as the scoring rate went down. Regular breakthroughs meant that TuTi couldn’t get going as they managed to score only 23 runs in the last four overs, losing four wickets in the process. TuTi finished with 143 for 8, their lowest ever total, batting first in this season.
Brief scores: Albert TuTi Patriots 143 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhinav Mukund 41, 38b, 4x4; Sai Kishore 2 for 25; Arun Kumar 2 for 29) lost to Chepauk Super Gillies 145 for 4 in 19 overs (KH Gopinath 50, 38b, 2x4, 3x6; Athisayaraj Davidson 2 for 30, Aushik Srinivas 1 for 17) by six wickets.
It wasn't easy for Chepauk as chasing a moderate total, they got off to a cautious start, punishing only the loose balls. In spite of being 41 for no loss in the power play, Chepauk lost the momentum when Akash Sumra bowled a maiden over. With the required run rate increasing, Thaliana Sargunam went for the big one only to hit it straight to Kaushik Gandhi at point, off Aushik Srinivas (1 for 17). In the next four overs, Chepauk could add just 11 runs with the loss of a wicket and they required 92 off the last ten. After a gap of 33 deliveries, KH Gopinath managed to hit one to the fence as Karthik finished the over with a six. But Washington Sundar struck the very next over removing Karthik and Antony Dhas followed him soon, hitting one to Aushik at deep mid-wicket, off Athisayaraj Davidson.
Gopinath (50) got to this half-century keeping Chepauk in the hunt as his team required 52 runs in the last five overs. Athisayaraj (2 for 30) removed the all-important wicket of a well settled Gopinath and now Chepauk had two new batsmen in, still requiring more than 10 runs per over. A six each by the skipper R Satish and Vasanth Saravanan in the same over shifted the momentum slightly towards Chepauk. The duo carried on as the equation boiled down to 22 runs required in the last two overs. There was no 20th over required as Sathish and Saravanan finished in the 19th over, which went for 23 runs including 2 sixes and a boundary, all the boundaries hit by Saravanan. The match winning partnership faced 22 deliveries and added 52 runs.
Opting to bat first, luck favored TuTi early when Sundar was dropped in the very second ball by Antony Dhas at long on, off Sai Kishore. The drop didn’t prove too costly as the Chepauk skipper struck in the fourth over as he sent back the top runner getter of the tournament, after Sai Kishore didn’t make a mistake at mid-on. There was then a 42-minute rain interruption immediately after which Kaushik Gandhi was caught by the Chepauk keeper off R Alexander as Chepauk crawled back slowly into the game. It was then up to the experienced Abhinav Mukund (41) and Dinesh Karthik to pile on the runs, but the left arm spin trio of Arun Kumar (2 for 29), Alexander and Sai Kishore were successful in stemming the run flow.
With runs getting difficult to come by, Arun Kumar struck twice in two overs removing both the star batsmen and TuTi batting found themselves in a sticky situation for the first ever time in the tournament. SP Nathan tried to counter attack, but Sai Kishore (2 for 25) sent back Nathan and Annand Subramanian in consecutive deliveries as TuTi were truly in all sorts of trouble at 120 for 6. The lower middle order struggled as wickets kept tumbling as the scoring rate went down. Regular breakthroughs meant that TuTi couldn’t get going as they managed to score only 23 runs in the last four overs, losing four wickets in the process. TuTi finished with 143 for 8, their lowest ever total, batting first in this season.
Brief scores: Albert TuTi Patriots 143 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhinav Mukund 41, 38b, 4x4; Sai Kishore 2 for 25; Arun Kumar 2 for 29) lost to Chepauk Super Gillies 145 for 4 in 19 overs (KH Gopinath 50, 38b, 2x4, 3x6; Athisayaraj Davidson 2 for 30, Aushik Srinivas 1 for 17) by six wickets.