Published: Sep 18, 2016, 04:47 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 18, 2016, 10:25 PM (IST)
After a month of intense cricketing action, the first edition of Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2016 has reached its finale wherein the TUTI Patriots will face Chepauk Super Gillies at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. These two teams will be battling out to come out as the winners of the first ever edition of the super thumping first edition of TNPL. The last time these two teams locked their horns against each other were in the first ever match of the group stage and the tournament and now after almost a month these two team will again face each other in the last match of this edition.
In the first ever match of this tournament where these two teams played, the Dinesh Karthik lead side won by 45 runs on the very same ground as captain Karthik handsomely lead his side to victory. Since the fortunes changed for both teams as Karthik along with another batsman Abhinav Mukund left to play for Duleep Trophy. The Patriots looked little lost in the tournament as they lost a couple of matches. But the team got back into their form towards the end of the group stage as they recorded four wins in four matches as their bowling and batting department has performed exceptionally well for their team. They also went on to put a brilliant performance in the first semi-final against Dindigul Dragons as they defeated them by a margin of 38 runs.
The Patriots have received a massive boost as both Karthik and Mukund came in to play for the team for the remaining matches of the tournament. In the semi-final against the Dragons, Mukund played a beautiful innings of 91 during which skipper Karthik played the second fiddle to Mukund. Their partnership turned out to be a game changer as they both lifted their team a comfortable position in the first innings. Also, they would be happy with the way line-up has evolved with Kaushik Gandhi, Washington Sundar finding their touch as well.
The bowling of the Patriots is headed by veteran Lakshmipathy Balaji who has been consistent in delivering the necessary breakthroughs for his team whenever needed. Moreover, their bowling has been a top class right from the beginning of the tournament and have not allowed the opposition to get away with huge scores. They have been successful in restricting the opponents to 150 or less in almost all their games and that says a lot about their bowling attack. Balaji leads the bowling attack with panache and the others like Aswin Crist, Aushik Srinivas, Ganesh Moorthi have chipped in well especially in the middle overs. Amidst all this Washington Sundar, has been the Patriots’ surprise package in the bowling powerplay, as he has not leaked runs and has also been successful in getting wickets at the right time.
On the other, the Chepauk Super Gillies didn’t have a great start to the league. But they managed to win matches at the crucial point of the tournament which helped them to climb the ladder of points table at the end of group stage eventually to the final spot. Their plus point has been their opening pair of K Gopinath and Thalaivan Sargunam who have delivered for their team throughout the tournament. This has also enabled the next to come in batsmen to go all guns blazing towards the end of innings which includes the likes of batters such Vasanth Saravanan and captain R Sathish.
In the second semi-final which the Super Gillies won against the Lyca Kovai Kings by 17 runs. Saravanan played an excellent knock off 52 from 39 deliveries which helped his team to put up a target of 162 against the Kings which they never could achieve. He would have surely got the much-needed confidence from such a gritty knock and also for the man of the Match award and will be hoping that he continues with it in the very important final today.
The bowling department for the Super Gillies has been headed by Anthony Dhas who was excellent in the semi-finals against the Kings as he took three important wickets in his spell of four overs while giving away just 21 runs. Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore bowled an economical spell as he finished with the figures of 4-1-17-2. He has had a superb TNPL so far as he held the oppositions in the power-play which is why he can be a fatal bowler in the crucial time of the match. He is supported by the fellow left-arm spinner R Alexander and the young fast bowler Ashwath Mukunthan. Sathish opens the bowling for the Gillies and his experience is a value addition for the Chepauk side.
Speaking before the final, Chepauk Super Gillis player Yo Mahesh said, “We are happy to be in a position where we can take revenge (for the loss). They are a very good team and we have momentum on our side. Everyone is stepping up and performing when needed. It is going to be fun tomorrow.”
While all-rounder Washington Sunder of the TUTI Patriots said, “We believe in playing to our potential, giving it our best shot. We bowled well throughout the tournament; our batting has also been bolstered by the return of Dinesh Karthik and Abhinav (Mukund). We beat Chepauk (Super Gillies) when we first played them in Chennai, but we didn’t have a good game against Lyca (Kovai Kings), at the same venue. But, we will be ready,we have our plans in place.”
With all to play for in the first ever final of Tamil Nadu Premier League 2016, both teams will no doubt we at their best if as all hard work of past one month or so will be at stakes here in the final. Both teams are worthy of their positions and are a tough competition to each other without any doubts and they will have to be at their best in the tournament so far to see themselves lifting the trophy tonight.
Teams:
Chepauk Super Gillies: Arun Kumar, Rajagopal Sathish(c), Antony Dhas, Gopinath(wk), Joel Joseph, Yo Mahesh, Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran, Sathiamoorty Saravanan, Thalaivan Sargunam, R Alexander, Aditya Barooah, Jothimani Gowjith Subhash, S Karthik, Ashwath Mukumthan, Baskaran Rahul, Rajeel Abdul Rahman, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Uthirasamy Sasidev, V Shibi Jawahar, SI Vasudevan, PS Nirmal Kumar
TUTI Patriots: Dinesh Karthik (wk/c), Umashankar Sushil, Siddarth Ahuja, Akash Sumra, Subramanian Anand, Aswin Crist, V Athisayaraj Davidson, Aushik Srinivas, Lakshmipathy Balaji, M Ganesh Moorthi, Kaushik Gandhi, V Lakshman, Maaruthi Raghav, Abhinav Mukund, SP Nathan, G Nicul Anand, R Sathyanarayan, R Vishaal, Washington Sundar
