The very first ever Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) title landed in Dindigul for their finest performer, Ravichandran Ashwin. On Sunday, the Dragons crushed the reigning kings Lyca Kovai Kings by six wickets inside the final at Chennai.
So Ashwin’s innings of 52 off 47 balls ensured that they got there successfully in pursuit of 130 runs. Also he hit a four and three sixes, Parami News revealed.
The victory was mainly secured through this partnership where Baba Indrajith scored as much as 32 runs from 35 deliveries and then Ravichandran Ashwin scored another half century before being bowled down for 52.
Dindigul’s middle order batsmen managed to pull off because Ashwin seemed cool and composed as he chased along with them and ended up in an unbeaten position on 46 following a power play which lost two wickets when they totalled these runs.
Lyca bowlers including Gowtham Thamarai Kannan, Manimaran Siddharth, Valliappan Yudheeswaran and Shahrukh struck once each during the over.
By getting regular wickets Dindigul kept Lyka batters under pressure early on. In the third over Sandeep Warrier (11 from nine balls) claimed Suresh Kumar to make a breakthrough after being asked to bowl first.
They were well-placed at halfway stage but Varun Chakravarthy got two wickets in sixth over while P Vignesh dismissed Sai Sudharsan (14 off 14 balls) thereafter for their third man just short of mid-off or mi-on area.
In addition Atheeq Ur Rahman (17 balls; SR:147.05*) Ram Arvindh (SR:103.85), who made up for his slow scoring rate with some lusty blows to the boundary, put on 36 for the fifth wicket. However, Subodh Bhati made sure they would not go beyond 129 when he got rid of Rahman.
Skipper Shahrukh Khan (3 off 7 balls) was also out in the very next over after bowling Vignesh’s first delivery Amit Verma played a hard sweep as cover fielder only had to dive forward and pouch it inches above turf.
