TNPL: Washington's all-round show puts Patriots in playoffs

After a fine spell of two for 27, Washington Sundar hit a 27-ball 36 in the chase to star in Albert Tuti Patriots' six-wicket win versus Lyca Kovai Kings.

Washington Sundar picked up the important wickets of L. Suryapprakash and B. Anirudh.

Washington Sundar (36, 27b, 2x4, 2x6) and Kaushik Gandhi (44, 32b, 6x4, 1x6) raised an 80-run stand at the start as Albert Tuti Patriots defeated Lyca Kovai Kings by six wickets in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) at the ICL grounds here on Thursday.

The Kings stand-in skipper L. Suryapprakash won the toss and opened the innings with Pradosh Ranjan Paul. The duo did not risk going for the big shots against left-arm spinner Ganesh Moorthi.

After a quiet first over, they decided to play with some freedom but, speedster A. Davidson had other ideas. He bowled with express pace to remove the young Ranjan Paul for three.

Anirudh, who walked in next, decided to take the bull by its horns. He tackled the searing pace of Davidson with aplomb and unleashed the ball to the ropes on a couple of occasions.

Washington strikes

And even as runs kept flowing from his blade, offie Washington struck twice. He had Suryapprakash caught off his own bowling for seven and later followed it up rattling Anirudh's middle and off stump for 21.

And, with Washington further effecting a fine run out (of Deeban Lingesh) running from the point region, the Kings found themselves on the wrong side of the road.

To add to their woes, R. Rohith stepped out to spinner Aushik Srinivas and wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik made no mistake. But Akshay and Harish came up with a range of shots to shore the team to a respectable 160
for six.

The Patriots began their chase on a flourishing note. And, it rained intermittently fours and sixes from the blades of Washington and Kaushik. Paceman K. Vignesh and off-spinner B. Arun came in for some severe punishment but the latter managed to get a double breakthrough at the halfway mark.

Dinesh makes merry

With both openers back in the hut, it was left to skipper Dinesh Karthik(47 n.o., 6x4, 1x6) to do the job. Despite a couple of wickets falling, the India star kept his cool to steer the team home.

Brief scores:

Lyca Kovai Kings 160 for six in 20 overs (B. Anirudh 21, R. Rohith 22, Akshay Srinivasan 52,Harish Kumar 33 n.o., Washington Sundar two for 27, A. Davidson two for 37) lost to Albert Tuti Patriots 164 for four in 18.3 overs (Washington Sundar 36, Kaushik Gandhi 44, Dinesh Karthik 47 n.o., B. Arun two for 32)