TNPL 2016, Chepauk Super Gillies vs Dindigul Dragons, Preview and Predictions: Dragons look to maintain lead

Chepauk Super Gillies is at No. 4 while Dindigul Dragons are topping the points table.

It is Match No. 18 of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) as Chepauk Super Gillies (CSG) face Dindigul Dragons (DDD). The match is scheduled to be played at the NPR College Ground, Dindigul. DDD are currently at the top of the points table and will look to carry on with the lead and their good performance in this match. CSG are currently at No. 4 spot and it is important for them to win this match so that they maintain to be among the top four. This will be the first time both the teams will face each other at the venue. ALSO READ: Ravichandran Ashwin shares memory of watching Sachin Tendulkar live as a kid at

CSG did have a good start to their TNPL campaign, losing their opening fixture to Albert Tuti Patriots. The team got themselves back on track to win their next two matches but lost their next match in a neck to neck fight with Lyca Kovai Kings. CSG have played good cricket so far and have done well with both bat and ball in the tournament so far. One of their major matters of concern will be Thalaivan Sargunam’s form. The player, despite being given many opportunities, failed to put in any match-winning effort and will have to shine in this match to cement his spot in the squad.

The CSG has a strong batting line-up. Gopinath, R Sathish and S Saravanan are the three names who have ensured CSG get good runs on the board. However, the team needs some powerful batsmen in the middle-order, which looks to be quite weak compared to the top-order. CSG need to bring in the consistency in their batting line-up to ensure the flow of runs remains constant and they get a good total on board.

Talking about bowling, CSG depends upon the four pillars that have helped the team do the damage to the opponents’ batting. Sathish, DT Kumaran, R Alexander and Antony Dhas are the names that the team will depend a lot in this departments and will need equal contributions from the bowlers as well as the batsmen to ensure their team dominates. There will be one man who will be expected to get into good form which has been missing in the league and that is Yo Mahesh. Though the bowler got wickets earlier, he has given away way too many runs which resulted in a not-so-good economy.

Dragons are topping the list and that is no luck. The team performed equally well with the ball and bat while fielded well throughout the league and maintained their lead. DDD have been one of the strongest teams in the contest and that is already one extra pressure that they successfully put upon their opponents. However, the team’s batting has been a lot dependent upon N Jagadeesan who is having an outstanding form currently and will be expected to continue playing the way he has so far.

A surprising performance came from Murugan Ashwin in DDD’s last match as he helped the team with batting down the order. He is somehow one of the star performers with the ball and will be depended upon for bowling. A similar problem for the team is their weakness in middle-order batting which has not been spotted vividly because of the performance of the top-order, especially that of Jagadeesan.

Among the bowlers, there will be T Natarajan who has bagged a lot of wickets as well as appreciation for his lethal yorkers in the tournament. Besides him will be MS Sanjay, Guru Kedarnath and of course, Murugan Ashwin to form a powerful bowling attack.

It will be great to see Natarajan working his yorkers out at Gopinath. Both have been in good form and key players for their respective sides.

Squads:

Chennai Super Gillies: R Sathish, Yo Mahesh, Thalaivan Sargunam, Anthony Dhas, Gopinath, Sai Kishore, Sasidev, Joel Joseph, Tamil Kumaran, Alaxander R, Vasanth Saravanan S, Rahul B, Ashwath Mukunthan, Karthik S, Rajeel Abdul Rahman, Nirmal Kumar, Vasudevan, Aditya Barooah, Shibi Jawahar.

Dindigul Dragons: Subramania Siva (c), Murugan Ashwin, Ganga Sridhar Raju, T Natarajan, Sunny Kumar Singh, R Vivek (wk), Ashwin Venkataraman, Wilkins Victor, S Abishiek, Adithya Arun, S Dinesh, VRS Guru Kedarnath, N Jagadeesan, D Prashanth Prabhu, MS Sanjay, S Shyam Sundar, M Silambarasan, ME Yazh Arun Mozhi, K Mukunth, Ravichandran Ashwin.

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