Game-changer: Sachin set it up for Kovai Kings with a gritty 53-ball 63.
| Photo Credit: LAKSHMI NARAYANAN E
B. Sachin top-scored with 63 (53b, 8×4) as Lyca Kovai Kings posted 141 for seven and won by 13 runs against Chepauk Super Gillies in the inaugural match of the eighth season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) at the Salem Cricket Foundation (SCF) ground here on Friday.
Chasing a target of 142, Super Gillies was in cruise mode, thanks to a 56-run second-wicket stand between skipper B. Aparajith (38, 29b, 4×4, 1×6) and N. Jagadeesan (18).
But medium-pacer M. Mohammed bowled Jagadeesan off a slow delivery as the batter missed a pull. Kovai Kings skipper M. Shahrukh Khan had Aparajith miscue a slog-sweep to Sachin at long-on.
Earlier, Aparajith had remarkably pulled Mohammed over the deep midwicket boundary for a six.
Though Pradosh Ranjan Paul tried his best with a 32-ball 40 (4×4), he couldn’t quite deliver the big blows in the end and was retired out after the penultimate ball of the 19th over. Mohammed successfully defended 18 in the last over.
Earlier, after Aparajith opted to bowl, medium-pacer Tanwar (four for 26) had the Kovai Kings openers J. Suresh Kumar and S. Sujay edge to slip and the wicketkeeper in his first two overs.
Pradosh’s throw, running in from midwicket, caught Shahrukh short at the non-striker’s end as Kovai Kings ended the PowerPlay at 34 for three.
The side recovered through the 64-run fourth-wicket partnership between left-hander Sachin and U. Mukilesh (31, 25b, 3×4).
Sachin swept left-arm spinner Rahil Shah over short fine-leg for four.
He ramped an attempted yorker between short fine-leg and the ’keeper for four before an inside-out shot over cover ended in a similar result in the final over bowled by Tanwar.
The scores: Lyca Kovai Kings 141/7 in 20 overs (B. Sachin 63, U. Mukilesh 31, Abhishek Tanwar 4/26) bt Chepauk Super Gillies 128/6 in 20 overs (B. Aparajith 38, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 40).
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