TNPL 2016: Dindigul Dragons face Thiruvallur Veerans in heavyweight clash at Tirunelveli
In what may be a mouth-watering clash of the India Cements TN Premier League, Dindigul Dragons will take on VB Thiruvallur Veerans at the India Cements Limited Grounds at Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli, on Thursday.
Both teams have won their first two games and will come into this one with massive confidence. Dindigul, who were bolstered by the return of skipper R Ashwin, will rely on him to replicate their heroics of the previous match. But there is also slight doubt over Ashwin’s inclusion for the game.
His return will strengthen the bowling and will also help the younger players to learn. The previous match against Ruby Kanchi Warriors saw the likes of M Ashwin, Guru Kedarnath, Sunny Kumar Singh, MS Sanjay chipping in with useful overs. All the four bowlers provided good support to R Ashwin.
But, Dindigul’s batting has a slight concern as apart from Jagadeesan Narayanan no other player has really clicked. The only positive for Dindigul was the opening stand in the second game.
Also, against Madurai Super Giants the team was short on runs from the middle-order. It would be interesting to see as to how the team performs provided both the Ashwin’s don’t play. On the other hand, Veerans are one of the younger sides of the tournament and have performed well so far.
Their fighting spirit could be seen in the game against Madurai Super Giants when they clawed back from the brink of defeat. The team looks confident despite the absence of their key player Baba Aparajith. Veerans had contributions from different players and skipper Malolan Rangarajan may prove to be the game-changer.
They have a strong bowling line-up and contributions from their batsmen have them going so far. NS Chaturved, Malolan Rangarajan, Rahil Shah, Abhishek Tanwar and R Rohit are the players to watch out for.
Key battles: The clash between the in-form Jagadeesan Narayanan and R Rohit is one to watch out for. Narayanan has notched up two good performances and will be up against the guile of Rohit.