TNPL | Kovai defend modest total to defeat Chepauk

Brief scores: Lyca Kovai Kings 137 for 7 (Syed Mohammad 37, 37b, 2x4, 1x6, Anirudh Sita Ram 32, 29b, 2x4, 1x6, M Mohammed, 26, 12b, 1x4, 3x6, R Sathish 2/20, Sai Kishore 1/22) beat Chepauk Super Gillies 126 for 9 (Gopinath 29, 22b, 4x4, 1x6, Gowjith Subhash 28 not-out, 18b, 3x4, 1x6 Harish Kumar 3/23, Ajith Ram 2/9, MK Sivakumar 1/10) by 11 runs.

Gillies, who were chasing 138, got off to a good start thanks to wicketkeeper Gopinath (29). But things changed dramatically when Ajith Ram (2 for 9) and Harish Kumar (3 for 23) were introduced into the attack. Ajith drew first blood as he dismissed the hard-hitting Gopinath. In the space of four runs, Gillies lost three wickets as Harish Kumar picked two in one over. Harish and Ajith didn’t give any room to the Gillies batsmen as they stuck to a tight line.

After R Satish was dismissed for a duck, Kings tightened the screws as Gillies needed 63 runs to chase in five overs with four wickets in hand. But Gowjith Subash (26) and Antony Dhas (28 not-out) blasted 33 runs in two overs with the former being dropped by M Mohammed on 20. Kings spilled another chance as Dhas was given a life-line when he was on 10. Though they were successful in running out Subash still Harish just gave just three runs in the 18th over and tilted the match in Kings’ favour. The 19th over had Gillies losing two wickets for two runs which sealed their fate.

 Earlier, Kings, who opted to bat first after winning the toss, had a bad start when they lost L Suryaprakash for a duck to R Satish. Tarun Srinivas (12) was Sathish’s (2 for 20) second victim after a slog was swept straight to Antony Dhas at mid-on. Kings’ middle-order fell apart after Anirudh Sita Ram (32) was stumped by Gopinath off Sai Kishore (1 for 22). Though skipper Syed Mohammad (37), who was dropped by Thalaivar Sargunam on eight, kept going at one end, still he ran out of partners. R Alexander (1 for 24) didn’t allow Kings’ batsmen to get going in the middle-overs thanks to his tight line and length. Also, Gillies were excellent on field and M Mohammed, who came in at six down, hit Dhas for consecutive sixes in the 19th over. He didn’t stop as he added 28 runs in the last two overs which helped Kings to end up with a decent total on board.

But then it proved to be more than enough for Kings to defend in the end!

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