Dindigul Dragons continued its winning start to the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) with a 48-run victory over Ruby Kanchi Warriors at the M. A. Chidambaram stadium here on Tuesday.
Put in to bat by Warriors, Dragons posted a respectable 159 in its 20 overs, thanks to a strong top-order performance led by opener V. Jagadeesan, who scored 44. The openers began sedately but soon found their groove when the opening bowlers were replaced in the middle. Off-spinner Alagh Prathiban got both the openers but only after they had a solid 63-run partnership.
R. Ashwin, who walked in to the loudest cheer, and Subramania Shiva stitched a useful partnership of 33 for the fourth wicket. Shiva was the more attacking of the two, having tonked a couple of sixes. Wickets tumbled thereon, interspersed with some big hits conjured by the lower-order batsmen. R. Vivek was the most prominent among them, with 18 off 10 balls.
Stumbling start
In reply, Warriors got derailed in the Power Play itself, scoring only 24 runs and losing its openers. The uphill task of securing the chase proved beyond the team on the day. Once it was 53 for 6 in the 13th over, the contest seemed virtually over.
Murugan Ashwin stole the show with his brilliant leg-break bowling. He got middle-order batsmen Indrajith and Kousik stumped cheaply; both came down the track but were convincingly deceived by the flight and failed to get anywhere close to the ball. He varied his line and length beautifully to trouble the batsmen. He ended with figures of 2 for 24 in his four overs.
Dragons will next face Madurai Giants while Ruby Kanchi Warriors will look to get its campaign back on track against Thiruvallur Veerans.
Brief Scores:
Dindigul Dragons 159 for 7 in 20 overs (Jagadeesan 44, Sridhar Raju 32, Siva 23; Jesuraj 2 for 30, Prathiban 2 for 32) beat Ruby Kanchi Warriors 111 for 9 (Prathiban 20; Kedarnath 2 for 22, M. Ashwin 2 for 24, Sunny Singh 2 for 18) by 48 runs.
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