Openers C. Hari Nishaanth (57, 47b, 6x4, 3x6) and N. Jagadeesan (87 n.o., 51b, 12x4, 1x6) stitched a fine 104-run stand as Dindigul Dragons scored a facile 30-run win over Siechem Madurai Panthers in the Sankar Cement TNPL league at the ICL grounds here on Monday.
Given the task to bat first on a sporting pitch, Nishaanth and Jagadeesan were in a rocking mood. The former started it all with some timely hits to the fence and the latter, after having a good look at the pitch, slowly started to blossom.
The duo from Coimbatore shared a great understanding in the middle and that helped the team’s cause. The first six overs saw the Dragons race to 37 and, they further tormented the bowlers to bring in the century partnership, the first of the season, in 13.1 overs. And just when the going looked good, pacer J. Kousik, from the same City, struck in timely. Nishaanth who tried to slog it over the bowler’s head mistimed it only to find Rahil Shah race to his left to take a brilliant catch at long on. And, the Panthers heaved a huge sigh of relief.
Read: TNPL - 100 and going strong
But it was not over. Jagadeesan took over from there and played in a rather authoritative manner. He hit a couple of fours off Abhishek Tanwar to reach 1000 runs in 24 innings. Though wickets kept falling regularly in the final overs, Jagadeesan stood strong to help the team post a commanding 182 for six.
It was not an easy target to chase but the Panthers’ openers K.B. Arun Karthick and A. Sarath Raj played in a hurry as well. The former, who was dropped by R. Ashwin at mid-off, in the company of the latter hammered 50 inside six overs. It was at this juncture that left- arm spinner M. Silambarasan struck twice. He rattled them both in the space of three balls and later scalped two more (J. Kousik and Shijith Chandran) in his second spell to put the team back on the winning track. It was the spinner’s second four-wicket haul in as many
matches.
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