MATCH REPORT
Follow UsTrichy Grand Cholas scored 178 against Nellai Royal Kings, winning by four wickets in Match 18 of the TNPL 2024 on July 20 (Saturday).
Nellai Royal Kings faced an early setback after being asked to bat first, with opener Mokit Hariharan departing following another disappointing performance. Ajitesh fell shortly after, leaving Nellai struggling at 16 for 2.
However, Nidhish Rajagopal and Rithik Easwaran steadied the innings with crucial partnerships alongside Arun Karthik. After Nidhish's dismissal for 15 off 13 balls, Rithik and Arun Karthik combined effectively, adding 48 runs in just 37 deliveries.
Arun Karthik continued to dominate the Trichy Grand Cholas bowling attack, scoring 84 runs off 51 balls. The Nellai captain also surpassed 2000 runs in TNPL history during his innings. Nellai struggled to maintain momentum following Arun Karthik's dismissal, finishing their innings at 177 for 9 in their allotted 20 overs.
Saravana Kumar was the standout performer for Trichy Grand Cholas in the bowling department, claiming four wickets, while Anthony Dhas and Athisayaraj Davidson chipped in with two wickets each.
In response, Trichy Grand Cholas made an aggressive start to their innings as the openers - Waseem Ahmed and K Rajkumar combined for 37 runs off just 23 balls before their partnership was ended by a run-out.
Despite Nellai's average fielding effort, they capitalized on opportunities with three crucial run-outs, putting pressure on Trichy. Following K Rajkumar's dismissal, both Jafar Jamal and Shyam Sundar were also dismissed via run-outs.
Waseem Ahmed, on the other hand, had to walk back after making 27(17), setting the stage for Shyam Sundar-Jafar Jamal to go for an aggressive approach. The duo's 51-run partnership played a crucial role in keeping the momentum in Trichy's favour.
After their departure, Sanjay Yadav and R Rajkumar maintained composure under pressure, adding 33 runs to take Trichy close to victory. When the team needed three runs off the final over, The experienced R Rajkumar finished things with a six to guide Trichy to a four-wicket win.
After this victory, Trichy moved to second place in the points table. Nellai Royal Kings, on the other hand, retained fourth place after five matches.
The player of the match, Saravana Kumar, expressed, "I'm pleased with our victory today. Our goal is to secure qualification for the next stage. We were aware of the wind conditions in Tirunelveli and prepared accordingly".
The winning captain, Antony Dhas, said: "We are glad to win our third match of the season. Since we have a strong batting line-up, we knew we would chase this target down."
The losing captain, Nellai's Arun Karthik, said: "I felt like this score was good at this wicket. Unfortunately, I got out at a crucial time. Otherwise, we could have added another 15-20 runs. Our bowling could have been better today. We know taking high catches at Tirunelveli is always tough. Unfortunately, we dropped a few despite our good ground fielding."
Brief scores: Nellai Royal Kings 177/9 in 20 overs (Arun Karthik 84; Saravana Kumar 4/30) lost to Trichy Grand Cholas 182/6 in 19.3 overs (Jafar Jamal 39, R Rajkumar 31*; Emmanuel Cherian 1/25) by four wickets.
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