Published: Sep 09, 2016, 06:46 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 09, 2016, 06:46 PM (IST)
Madurai Super Giants (MSG) tenure in the TNPL came to an end as a seven-wicket loss to Ruby Kanchi Warriors (RKW) on Friday, at the NPR College Ground in Natham, knocked them out of contention for a play-off spot. With this loss, Giants, who are still winless, have no chance of qualifying for the play-offs. Giants, who won the toss and opted to bat first, were off to a shaky start as Arun Karthik went for a golden duck. S Thiyagarajan scoring 23, who was lucky to have been dropped twice by the Kanchi fielders, couldn’t capitalize was finally caught by J Kousik at point. ALSO READ: Watch a ‘furious’ Ravichandran Ashwin play mediator as street fight breaks out in TNPL match
Shijit Chandran who scored 53 continued his good run as he notched up his first half-century of the tournament. His 51-run partnership with Suresh Kumar adding his knock of 28 gave Giants hope before Chandran was dismissed. That triggered off a batting collapse – a recurring theme for Giants in the tournament so far. A Pratibhan with figures of 3 for 28 picked up two wickets in an over, including that of Shijit. P Sakthi who went for 16, tried to counter-attack and hit a few biggies only to be dismissed by Pratibhan. The lower middle-order couldn’t really get going as Giants finished on 135 for 9.
Bharath Shankar with another fifty gave Warriors a super start as he accelerated and cut loose as and when required. He looked fearless and punished the loose balls for boundaries and sixes with leg-spinner Muruganantham bearing the brunt. Despite Shankar’s dismissal, Warriors were well on course to chase down the target. Giants later applied the brakes as Nilesh Subramanium tried to consolidate with a run-a-ball knock but ended scoring 24. With 44 required off 41 deliveries, Nilesh soon fell, but Akkil Srinath remained 38 unbeaten scored 15 runs off Chandran’s over to bring down the required run-rate.
Srinath and Baba Indrajith who remained 21 unbeaten cleared the boundaries with ease as Warriors inched towards their second victory of the tournament. Muruganantham conceded 16 runs in his next over to effectively hand over the game to Giants.
In the earlier match, MSG were crashed to their fourth consecutive defeat in the India Cements TN Premier League on Tuesday as were thumped by 52 runs by Karaikudi Kaalai (KK) in Chennai. This was Giants’ fourth straight loss in the tournament and it has all but ended their chances of qualifying for the knockouts. Giants were eventually bowled out for 97 and are almost on the brink of elimination after this loss.
RKW had also faced loss in the previous match as Baba Aparajith-led VB Thiruvallur Veerans (VBTV) registered a comprehensive victory over the Ruby Kanchi Warriors by 42 runs in their India Cements TN Premier League match at the India Cements Limited Ground, Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli, on Monday. ALSO READ: TNPL 2016, CSG vs DDD, Preview and Predictions: Dragons look to maintain lead
The Warriors got off to a flying start with Bharath Shankar also scored 26 donning the role of the aggressor. Going strongly at eight-and-a-half runs per over, Warriors lost the wicket of Bharath against the run of play, courtesy a direct hit from Abhishek Tanwar. Veerans would have had another, but the wicketkeeper Govindaraj made a mess of an easy stumping Nilesh Subramanian had just 38 runs off Samuel. But soon after, Samuel picked both Indrajith and Nilesh and ended with figures of 3 for 27 in the same over after which the Warriors lost the plot.
With the required run rate crossing the 15-run mark, Shahrukh tried to accelerate in the death overs when R Rohith picked up two wickets off consecutive deliveries. Akkil Srinaath hit few out of the park but it was never going to be enough.
Before coming to this match, Giants were winless while Warriors have a solitary win to their credit. Now with fifth consecutive loss, Giants are out of TNPL for sure. Despite trying out various strategies, Giants have not been successful in plying out the necessary results.
The batting has been inconsistent and this has created problems during close matches. The only players to have contributed are Shijit Chandran, Arun Karthik and S Thiyagarajan, and the rest have been below par.
Even the bowling, which showed initial promise, had faltered. The only players who have shined in that department are Muruganantham and M. Raja. Warriors were facing similar issue. Though wicketkeeper batsman Nilesh Subramanium had got them off to good starts still the middle-order hasn’t given them adequate support. ALSO READ: Match Report, TNPL 2016: KK defeat MSG by 52 runs
The bowling is also being looked upon with the help of former Australia legend Brett Lee. Now that Warriors have won a game, they will need to win around two more games here to pose threat to the top teams and qualify for the play-offs of the TNPL.
The clash that most of them were looking forward to see was between Nilesh Subramanium and Arun Karthik clash thanks to the fact that both are proven match-winners. Both were at the top form in entire TNPL.
Brief scores: Madurai Super Giants 135 for 9 in 20 overs ( Shijit Chandran 53, Suresh Kumar 28; A Prathibhan 3 for 28, Rajamani Jesuraj 2 for 29) lost to Ruby Kanchi Warriors 139 for 3 in 17.3 overs (Akkil Srinath 38*, Bharath Shankar 37, DT Chandrasekar 1 for 22 ) by seven wickets.
