Chepauk Super Gillies beats Trichy Warriors to retain TNPL title

A superb final over from left-arm spinner R Sai Kishore helped the Super Gillies win the TNPL title for a second year in a row.

Published : Aug 16, 2021 09:20 IST , CHENNAI

Sai Kishore conceded a mere five runs in the final over to help the Super Gillies win by runs.
Sai Kishore conceded a mere five runs in the final over to help the Super Gillies win by runs.
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Sai Kishore conceded a mere five runs in the final over to help the Super Gillies win by runs.

In the end, it boiled down to left-arm spinner Sai Kishore sending down the last over to a rampant Saravana Kumar.

13 runs were needed, three wickets remained. The match had gone down to the wire. Then, varying his speed and angles, the nerveless Sai Kishore, remarkably, conceded just four runs as the final threw up a grandstand finish. A humdinger it was.  

Reigning champion Chepauk Super Gillies, defending 183, overcame bravehearts Ruby Trichy Warriors by eight runs to retain the Tamil Nadu Premier League title after the shoot-out at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday.  

Saravana remained unbeaten with a 25-ball unbeaten 45 of heart and fight, giving it his all and slumping to his knees in dejection at the end of it all. What a final!

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In the first half of the contest, N. Jagadeesan’s 58-ball 90, dotted with gems of bravado, ingenuity, power and placement, was the fuel the Super Gillies needed.

Motoring on Jagadeesan’s blitzkrieg, defending champion Super Gillies, posted a challenging 183 for six, and kept themselves in the game with some outstanding catching as the contest swung one way then the other. However, the Trichy Warriors, fearless, kept coming back hard.

Saravana is not just a probing seam bowler but is also a compelling striker of the ball. His scintillating blows kept the Warriors in the chase. 

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Earlier, southpaw Adithya Ganesh, with his flourishing backlift, waded into the bowling, but could not kick on falling to B. Arun’s off-spin.  Another in-form left-hander Nidhish Rajagopal (26 off 17) promised much before pulling R. Sathish into the man in the mid-wicket fence. These were the crucial blows.

Super Gillies lifted its fielding when it mattered. Left-arm spinner R. Alexander plucked a brilliant, diving return catch to dismiss Adnan Khan.

At the start of the chase, Amit Sathwik and S. Santhosh Shiv tore into the bowling making light of the stress.  

Paceman Sonu Yadav’s reflex return catch sent  Santosh Shiv back. And the brilliant Sathwik, 36 off 16 with a spectacular straight six off M. Siddharth, fatally miscued Sonu.  

Power hitter Antony Dhas was promoted but could never quite get going. Earlier, Jagadeesan innovated, created, used his feet, seldom lost balance - this was no slogging - and fired the ball through the gaps on either side. 

And Jagadeesan (on 26 then) was reprieved when a diving Adnan Khan grassed an offering, seamer Poiyamozhi being the bowler to suffer.  And Jagadeesan made the Trichy Warriors pay for the lapse.

Brief scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 183/6 in 20 overs (Kaushik Gandhi 26, N. Jagadeesan 90, Rahil Shah 2/31, M. Poiyamozhi 2/37) bt Ruby Trichy Warriors 175/7 in 20 overs (Amit Sathvik 36, Nidhish Rajagopal 26, P. Saravana Kumar 45 not out, Sonu Yadav 2/32).

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