N. Jagadeesan’s unbeaten 105 (60b, 12x4, 4x6) trumped M. Vijay’s 99 (62b, 7x4, 7x6) as Dindigul Dragons maintained its winning streak registering a five-wicket win over Ruby Trichy Warriors in the TNPL at the NPR College grounds in Natham on Saturday.
It was the Trichy side’s fifth loss in as many matches. The match was underpinned by a thoroughly entertaining one-on-one match-up between Vijay and R. Ashwin. While the star off-spinner unleashed many variations coupled with his quirky bowling actions, Vijay adopted an interesting approach in response.
At one point, he batted left-handed against Ashwin, who bowled a no-ball. Vijay’s riposte was a six off the Free Hit. Their tussle went on for a while, but the Warriors opener edged the contest. Vijay, however, was denied a century thanks to a stunning one-handed catch from N.S. Chaturved at backward point.
Put in, the Warriors raced to 58 for no loss in the PowerPlay.
K. Mukunth displayed aggressive intent, striking a couple of boundaries in the second over of the match by J. Kaushik. In fact, Kaushik could have dismissed him in his next over, had Silambarasan held on to an easy chance at point. The 20-year-old did eventually hold on to his catch in the 13th over. But, the duo, by then, had added 106.
Vijay’s big hitting kept the scoreboard moving briskly. After his dismissal in the second ball of the final over with the score on 160, K. Mani Bharathy struck 18 off the next four, which included two sixes.
In reply, Dragons lost opener C. Hari Nishaanth, who was run out off a direct hit by P. Saravana Kumar, in the fourth over with the score on 34.
Fellow opener Jagadeesan and Chaturved put on 58 for the second wicket, keeping pace with the asking rate. Warriors hit back, removing Chaturved and Ashwin in quick succession. But an 81-run partnership off just 30 balls between Jagadeesan and R. Vivek pulled the Dragons out of a hole.
From 114 for three in 15 overs, the Dindigul side went past the target in the next 4.1 overs. It was the Coimbatore lad’s maiden century in the competition.
Panthers trumps Super Gillies
In the other match, defending champion Siechem Madurai Panthers defeated Chepauk Super Gillies by 33 runs.
Panthers, opting to bat, was provided a solid platform by K.B. Arun Karthick and skipper P. Shijit Chandran through their 64-run stand for the second wicket before a late charge by R. Nilesh Subramanian helped the team post 172.
In reply, Gillies lost three wickets with just 14 on the board. K.H. Gopinath (45, 32b, 5x6) and U. Sasidev (51, 42b, 4x4, 2x6) steadied the ship with a 63-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Panthers
applied the brakes, removing Gopinath and M. Ashwin.
S. Harish Kumar joined Sasidev in the middle and they tried their best to push the scoring rate, but the target proved too steep.
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