Published: Sep 10, 2016, 01:53 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 10, 2016, 05:44 PM (IST)
Good Afternoon, Matiya Vaṇakkam! Hello and Welcome to the live coverage of Match 21 between Madurai Super Giants vs Chepauk Super Gillies, of the ongoing Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2016, at the NPR College Ground in Dindigul on Friday. In this today’s clash amongst the two, Madurai Super Giants are at the bottom of the table while their opponents Chepauk Super Gillies are residing at third position. The giants have played the five games and are yet to get their opening win while the Super Gillies have too played the same number of matches and have won three out of them and lost two. ALSO READ: Watch a ‘furious’ Ravichandran Ashwin play mediator as street fight breaks out in TNPL match
In what is an important game for Chepauk Super Gillies in the India Cements TN Premier League, they will be up against Madurai Super Giants at the NPR College Ground at Natham on Saturday. The Super Gillies would be hoping to win this match and get themselves the deal done of qualifying for the top four positions of the TNPL 2016 which will enable them to contest for the winners. The Giants who play two afternoon games on consecutive days, have a huge task at hand to beat Gillies. READ: TNPL 2016: Players to watch out for
The Super Gillies are the favourites for this one as they are riding high with confidence they gained from their emphatic win over the Dindigul Dragons a few days back. That six-run win ensured that Gillies would in all probability qualify for the play-offs. There are a few areas of concern for the Super Gillies as they will want a tighter bowling effort from their bowling department as the last match against the Dindigul Dragons went on till the last ball of the match and it seemed like their bowlers did lose their way in the death overs of the match.
Other than that, their batting has been good as they have not disappointed their team management much. Their openers had a good game as Gopinath continued his run-scoring spree, and Thalaivan Sargunam also hitting form at the opportune moment. But the middle-order is an area of concern and Gillies will aim to fix it before the business end of the tournament starts.
Giants on the other hand have had a forgettable tournament without a single win to boast for. Despite taking a few games to the end, they have not been able to push past the winning line. It may be noted that prior to the game against Gillies, they also have one against Ruby Kanchi Warriors, on the same venue. And a loss will end their play-off hopes for good.
Despite having the maximum number of district players, Giants have been a disjointed outfit as they failed to click in neither of batting, bowling or fielding. Also, a major cause of concern is the inconsistent form of their openers, as good starts have not materialized in to big scores.
As they already have lost all the matches they played so far, their challenge in the competition as already come to an end. So whatever matches they will be playing will be for their pride as they will want at least a single win for themselves before they are done with all their playing fixtures.
But then Giants now have an excellent chance to play party-spoilers in their remaining matches as if they win today they will reduce the chances for the Super Gillies to qualify for the play-offs. A defeat here looks very unlikely for the Gillies as they are in good form and also their team is very strong on-papers. But this being a Twenty20 format game, anything and everything is possible here and in very less time.
So if the Giants want to play a spoil-sport for the teams which are in contention for the top spot, they will have to bring out their best in their remaining matches and show something which they have not shown in their previous matches.
Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) enters it’s first-ever season in 2016. A total number of eight teams will take part in the league starting from August 24 to September 18. Tamil Nadu Premier League features 28 league matches, two semi-finals and a final on September 18. TNPL aims at giving exposure to players through T20 league. The league attracted a lot of attention featuring former Australian opener Matthew Hayden in a South Indian attire during the promotional activities.
It is considered as a Mini-IPL seeing the format of the league. With India’s star players Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik joining hands with the league, it will be a boost to TNPL’s viewership and for the players. TNPL 2016 also boasts of former International players as coaches. Lance Klusner from South Africa, Michael Bevan and Brett Lee from Australia.
Teams:
Chepauk Super Gillies: Gopinath(w), Thalaivan Sargunam, Sathiamoorty Saravanan, Rajagopal Sathish(c), Uthirasamy Sasidev, Jothimani Gowjith Subhash, Yo Mahesh, Antony Dhas, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, R Alexander, Dakshinamoorthy Kumaran, Arun Kumar, Joel Joseph, Aditya Barooah, S Karthik, Ashwath Mukumthan, Baskaran Rahul, Rajeel Abdul Rahman, V Shibi Jawahar, SI Vasudevan, PS Nirmal Kumar
Madurai Super Giants: Singamuthu Thiyagarajan, Arun Karthik(w), Shijit Chandran(c), P Francis Rokins, Suresh Kumar, Pitchaiayan Sakthi, Maan Bafna, Lakshminarayanan Vignesh, DT Chandrasekar, Muruganantham, Edward Kennedy, Andrew Subikshan, C Madhu, Varun Narender, Ganapathi Vignesh, M Raja, R Mihir, S Aswin Kumar, Palani Amarnath
