Albert Tuti Patriots won the inaugural TNPL in style by defeating Chepauk Super Gillies by 122 runs at the M.A Chidambaram stadium here on Sunday.
Tuti Patriots preserved its best performance for the final, after scoring 215 - the highest in the tournament so far - with contributions by Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik and Kaushik Gandhi. It continued its domination with the ball as M.Ganesh Moorthi took four wickets in the first over, including a hat-trick to take the game out of Chepauk Super Gillies' reach.
Tuti Patriots won the toss and elected to bat, and started off aggressively, reaching its 50 within the first six overs. Mukund smashed Mukunthan for four fours in the fourth over. Gandhi wasn't much behind his senior partner, and was finding the boundaries easily. The pressure of the final was telling on the Super Gillies bowlers and captain, a no-ball was bowled in the seventh over for not having four fielders inside the ring.
Tuti Patriots looked at ease on the big stage, and the two openers never stopped hitting boundaries. The team reached 91 in 10 overs, and the 100-partnership was up in the 12th over.
R. Sai Kishore, who has been the stand out bowler so far for the Super Gillies in the tournament broke the partnership by getting Gandhi for 59. The opening pair had a stand of 132. But Mukund continued his assault on the bowlers, and was joined by Karthik in the middle. Karthik used his experience and Tuti Patriots continued to deal in boundaries, much to the delight of a packed crowd. The second wicket partnership yielded 50 in just 25 balls.
Karthik was the wrecker in chief, and he reached his 50 in just 24 balls. He scored five fours and four huge sixes. Both batsmen used the crease to make angles, and also bought out the scoop, giving the bowlers no chance to adjust. Karthik and Mukund put up 82 runs in just 37 balls as the team reached a towering score of 215. Mukund stayed unbeaten on 82 off 52 balls.
All the bowlers had a forgetful outing, and two spinners R. Alexander and R. Sai Kishore were the only ones with an economy of less than 10.
Super Gillies never had a chance after losing four wickets in the first over. Balaji, too got into the act and Gillies was struggling at 37/5 before rain interrupted play for a short while.
But with the game already in the Tuti Patriots' grip, Super Gillies was bowled out for 93, not playing its full quota of 20 overs.
Tuti Patriots thanked the crowd for the support, as fireworks bought an end to the first season of the TNPL.
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