S. Badrinath’s Karaikudi Kaalai defeated Madurai Super Giant by 43 runs in a one-sided Tamil Nadu Premier League game at the ICL grounds here on Thursday.
Chasing 186, Madurai limped to 142 for nine in its 20 overs. Left-arm spinner S. Mohan Prasath and seamer R. Rajkumar were the chief wicket-takers, taking six between them, who disallowed any serious shot at the target.
Opener K. B. Arun Karthik (19, 8b, 3x4, 1x6) started aggressively, scoring 16 runs in the first over bowled by medium pacer G. Chandrasekar. But Mohan Prasath cut rattled his off stump with a turning delivery. Karthikeyan returned early as well. Shijith Chandran, the other opener, and Shahruk Khan (39, 30b, 5x4, 1x6) kept the team in the hunt with a 42-run stand for the third wicket before the former departed to a smart catch by Shajahan at short third man off Prasath.
Shahruk tried to accelerate but fell prey to Prasath as well. The domino effect took over as the team’s resistance slid quickly.
Vaidhya scores half-century
The target could have been lower had Suresh Kumar held on to a flying catch at first slip to dismiss the chief architect of Karaikudi Kaalai’s innings, Vishal Vaidhya (65, 51b, 5x4, 3x6), in the very first over. Vaidhya went top gear after his reprieve. He clobbered paceman Suresh for a couple of boundaries in the next over and further hit M. Poiyamozhi for a smart six. S. Anirudha, his partner, played sensibly by rotating the strike. And, the Power Play overs yielded the team a healthy 49.
Spinners D. T. Chandrasekar and Shahruk Khan, who bowled an incisive spell, quietened things a bit in the middle overs. That, however, did not matter much as the duo played safe to stitch a century stand in 12.2 overs. And just when the going looked good, left-arm spinner R. Karthikeyan applied the brakes by trapping Anirudha leg before for 40 (31b, 4x4, 1x6) and, Badrinath soon followed suit.
Left-arm spinner Chandrasekar made further inroads by removing the free-flowing Vishal and R. Srinivasan of successive deliveries. But some lusty hitting at the death by R. Shajahan (32, 13b, 2x4, 3x6), who was dropped by Prashanth Prabhu when on 12, helped the team post 185 for five.
The scores
Karaikudi Kaalai 185 for five in 20 overs (S. Anirudha 40, Vishal Vaidhya 65, D. T. Chandrasekhar two for 16) beat Madurai Super Giant 142 for nine in 20 overs (Shijith Chandran 26, Shahruk Khan, 39, Mohan Prasath three for 13).
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