TNPL: Super Gillies trumps Kovai Kings to enter final

Chepauk Super Gillies benefitted from a 76-run partnership between H. Gopinath and S.Saravanan as it posted a match-winning 161/7 against Lyca Kovai Kings. It will take on Albert Tuti Patriots in the final.

S. Vasanth Saravanan struck a fine half-century, helping Chepauk Super Gillies post a match-winning total.

Chepauk Super Gillies defeated the Lyca Kovai Kings by 17 runs in front of a packed M. A. Chidambram Stadium to seal its spot in the TNPL final here on Saturday.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Super Gillies made the most of the power play overs, scoring 50 runs and losing just two wickets. H. Gopinath and S.Vasanth Saravanan built a solid 76-run partnership, scoring runs with proper cricketing shots and not trying anything fancy.

It was aided by a flat pitch which offered hardly anything to the bowlers. Kovai Kings managed to fight back by drying up the boundaries in the middle overs. It got its reward in the 13th over, when M. Mohammed broke the partnership by getting Gopinath caught at point. Saravanan was dismissed in the next over by A.Srinivasan.

U. Sasidev and R. Sathish, then stitched a quickfire 36-run partnership off just 18 balls to give the Super Gillies innings a much needed push. Super Gillies ended with a par score of 161 after its 20 overs.

For Kovai Kings, K.Vignesh and S.Harish Kumar were the pick of the bowlers with two wickets a piece.

Kovai Kings got off to a flier and scored 44 runs in the first five overs, however R. Sai Kishore's maiden wicket over completely changed the game. This was Sai Kishore's third maiden over in the tournament. Super Gillies then firmed its grip on the game with some tight bowling.

R.Sai Kishore and R.Alexender spun a web on the Kovai Kings batsmen, and no one from the top order got going except L.Suryaprakash. The team just cleared the rope twice during the whole innings. Without any noteworthy partnerships, the Kovai Kings were never really in the game.

Akshay Srinivasan played a bit of a lone hand in the end to take the Kovai Kings close to the target, but that was never going to be enough.

Super Gillies will now take on Albert Tuti Patriots on Sunday in the inaugural TNPL final.

Brief scores:-

Chepauk Super Gilles 161/7 in 20 overs (S. Vasanth Saravanan 52, 39b, 2x6, K. H. Gopinath 44, 33b, 5x4, 1x6; K. Vignesh 2/21) beat Lyca Kovai Kings 144/9 in 20 overs (L. Surya Prakash 38, 28b, 2x4, 1x6, Akshay V. Srinivasan 27, 20b, 2x4 1x6; W. Antony Dhas 3/21)