The Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2018 season will see a new champion on Sunday when Dindigul Dragons face Madurai Panthers in the final at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.
Dindigul has been the most consistent with the bat in the tournament with captain N. Jagadeesan leading the way with 345 runs and opener Hari Nishant and number three R. Vivek contributing 249 runs respectively.
Jagadeesan took over the reins from India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and has led the team into the final with three unbeaten fifties and a solid 43 against Madurai in the first qualifier.
With the top-order performing consistently and doubt over the untested middle-order, Jagadeesan said Dindigul’s middle-order is capable of winning matches.
“There have been games where the middle-order has been tested. A game against Tuti Patriots was won by the middle-order and we have been shuffling a lot with the batting order so everybody had a chance to perform well,” the 22-year old said.
Madurai has also seen some individual brilliance in the form of opener KB Arun Karthik who is the top-scorer of the tournament with 397 runs.
Dindigul will also have to be wary of Varun Chakravarthi as the tricky spinner possesses the best economy (4.97) in the tournament with the most number of matches played (9).
When asked if the final is going to be a battle between Madurai’s bowling and Dindigul’s batting, Madurai captain Rohit Damoderan felt that his team is more balanced.
“We all know that Dindigul has an amazing batting line-up. I think we have a balanced side. There have been matches we have chased down 180 and matches we defended 115. It is going to be an interesting battle.” he said.
The final between Dindigul and Madurai will start at 7.15 pm IST.
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