TNPL | Kings beat Giants in high-scoring thriller

09/03/2016

101

Lyca Kovai Kings beat Madurai Super Giants by 10 runs in a high-scoring contest on Friday. Arun Karthik’s valiant 73 went in vain as Giants fell short chasing an imposing 200-run targetcrashing to their third loss in three games in the tournament.

Brief scores: LYCA Kovai Kings 199 for 7 (Tarun Srinivas 45, 32b, 2x4, 3x6, R Rohith 40, 19b, 2x4, 4x6, L Suryaprakash 36, 21b, 6x4, 1x6, S Thiyagarajan 2/14, Suresh Kumar 1/20) beat Madurai Super Giants 189 for 7 (Arun Karthik 73, 44b, 8x4, 3x6, K Vignesh 2/32, M Mohammed 2/28) by 10 runs.

Earlier, Kings, who won the toss and elected to bat, were helped by L Suryapprakash (36) who combined with Anirudh Balachander (26) and scored 21 runs in the seventh over. Also, S Thiyagarajan (2 for 14) dismissed Suryapprakash when Arun Karthik pulled off a stunner at backward point.

In the same over, Balachander, who was earlier dropped on 1 by Suresh Kumar at slips off Muruganantham, was dismissed after holing out to Suresh at third-man. Tarun Srinivas (45) continued to bat aggressively even as Chandrasekar (0 for 35) gave away 35 runs in his three overs. R Rohith (40) joined Srinivas and the duo completed the 50-run partnership in just 35 balls. Rohith hit three sixes off P Sakthi’s over. He eventually got out trying to accelerate and added 76 runs with Tarun. Tarun got out soon thanks to a diving catch by Chandrasekar. Also, Kovai reached 150 in the 15th over. Giants made a late comeback as Kings lost four wickets in five runs – including two run-outs. After conceding 10 runs in the next three overs, Giants gave away 34 in the last two, thanks to a cameo from M Mohammed which bought them closer to the 200 run-mark.

The Giants’ run-chase started steadily but then they lost both the openers with only 36 runs on board. Shijit Chandran (25) and Arun Karthik (73) stitched together a partnership of 54 runs before the former holed out to S Mohammad (0 for 25) near long-off. Karthik held the innings together and brought up his 50 with a six in the 13th over. He got a life-line earlier when M Mohammed couldn’t hold on to a diving catch in the deep cow-corner region. Despite K Vignesh (2 for 32) dropping Sakthi (15), Kings looked set for a win when Giants needed 71 off the last five overs. Karthik kept Giants in the hunt as he scored 16 runs off MK Sivakumar’s 16th over. But a diving catch by S Mohammad at mid-off sent Karthik back and almost sealed the game for Kings.

Despite a few lusty blows by the lower order it was all too late for Giants who crashed to their third straight defeat of the tournament.

Report © TNPL media