Published: Sep 13, 2016, 04:49 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 13, 2016, 04:49 PM (IST)
TUTI Patriots will be fighting of a semi-final berth in Tamil Nadu Premier League 2016 as they go up against Madurai Super Giants at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. Giants are yet to win a game in this series so far as they have had a rather forgettable tournamnent so far. They will be looking to end their first TNPL campaign on a high. However, Patriots will be aiming for a win to improve their chances as they have three wins from six matches and currently on fifth spot in the standings. It will be an interesting match to watch out for as TNPL is leading towards the ending stages of the first edition. ALSO READ: TUTI Patriots vs Madurai Super Giants, Live Streaming: Watch TNPL 2016, Match 27, Live telecast on TV & Online
Patriots have somehow managed to stay in hunt of the trophy despite their star batsman Dinesh Karhtik leaving the tournament to play for India Blue in Duleep Trophy being held at Greater Noida. Karthik helped Patriots kick-start their TNPL campaign with a bang, scoring an unbeaten half-century. This might even be considered as a positive for them that they have managed to stay in hunt of the trophy despite an inconsistent batting line-up. If Patirots win this match, they will be able to surpass VB Thiruvallur Veerans because they have a better strike-rate. This fixture can be considered as a must-win contest for them and the pressure will be immensely high on the players.
Kaushik Gandhi has been the most successful batsman for Patriots so far in the tournament with 212 runs from six innings with his personal highest score of 80. In the bowling department strike bowler Balaji has taken 8 wickets from five matches, his 5 for 18 can be considered his best performance in TNPL. Also, he has bowled with spectacular economy rate of 6.11. He will be a key player in the must-win situation against Giants tonight. He will be supported by Aswin Crist and Akash Sumra, who have done reasonably well in the tournament taking 13 wickets among them.
Madurai Super Giants will be aiming for a win and spoiling TUTI Patritots chances of reaching the play-offs. Their skipper Chandran has been their standout performer despite his team not being able to win a single match in the tournament. He has scored 174 from six innings at an average of 29 including a half century. Although, his strike-rate of 116.77 has not been that convincing according to T20 standards. Washington Sundar has got starts but has not been able to capitalise on them, throwing his wicket away in crunch situations and increasing the pressure on the side.
In bowling department Murugantham has stood out of the lot for Giants taking 8 wickets from six matches. His four-wicket-haul (4 for 22) too went in vain as his team as his team failed to capitalise on his performance. Murugantham’s strike rate has been outstanding clocking 6.47. Also, M Raja has taken 7 wickets in the tournament so far, but his economy rate of 9.33 has been rather disappointing as he leaked runs in important situations.
The coming matches in TNPL 2016 will be interesting to witness as teams fight for a semi-final berth.
Squads:
Madurai Super Giants: Arun Karthik(wk), Andrew Subikshan, Maan Bafna, Shijit Chandran(c), DT Chandrasekar, Varun Narender, P Francis Rokins, C Madhu, Muruganantham, Pitchaiayan Sakthi, Lakshminarayanan Vignesh, Ganapathi Vignesh, Singamuthu Thiyagarajan, M Raja, R Mihir, Edward Kennedy, S Aswin Kumar, Palani Amarnath, Suresh Kumar
TUTI Patriots: Umashankar Sushil(wk), Siddarth Ahuja, Akash Sumra, Subramanian Anand, Aswin Crist, V Athisayaraj Davidson, Aushik Srinivas, Lakshmipathy Balaji(c), M Ganesh Moorthi, Kaushik Gandhi, V Lakshman, Maaruthi Raghav, Abhinav Mukund, SP Nathan, G Nicul Anand, R Sathyanarayan, R Vishaal, Washington Sundar, Dinesh Karthik
(Arun Rawal, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a daydreamer, movie buff, and cricket fanatic. He could not play cricket, so did the next best thing, writing for it. He loves to play the flick shot over square leg, and believes Sachin Tendulkar is God. His Twitter handle is @ArunRawal93)
