TNPL 2016: Do or die for Karaikudi Kaalai against Ruby Kanchi Warriors

In what is effectively a do-or-die situation for Karaikudi Kaalai, they take on Ruby Kanchi Warriors in their India Cements TN Premier League match at the India Cements Limited Ground at Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli, on Tuesday. While Warriors are out of the competition, Kaalai can still make it to the next round, if they win with a good run-rate.

Kaalai is tied on six points with Albert Tuti Patriots and LYCA Kovai Kings, but have a lower net run-rate in comparison. So it is imperative for Kaalai, not only to win, but do it with a good margin. They are an improved side in comparison to what they were in their first two games of the tournament.

They did extremely well to come back and win three games in a row after suffering those early losses. Kaalai’s strength has been their bowling with Sonu Yadav and R Rajkumar doing well to restrict the opposition. That strategy though didn’t work out in the game against table-toppers Dindigul Dragons.

That loss has added more pressure on the team and a huge win is all but imperative for them now. Kaalai will look up to the experience of Subramanium Badrinath, Anirudha Srikkanth and Ganpathy Chandrasekar to lead the batting. Even opener Vijay Kumar has been in good nick, but needs to convert his starts into big scores, so that Kaalai’s bowlers can defend even sub-par totals.
 
Warriors, on the other hand, started off with a super-over win and promised much more in the tournament, but it was not to be. Their inability to stitch partnerships, especially while chasing big scores, has hurt the team and that explains their position in the points table.
 
Though Bharath Shankar and Nilesh Subramanian have helped Warriors get off to decent starts, it has not been enough. The brittle middle-order has been a big weakness and also lack of partnerships have resulted in quick batting collapses.
 
The bowling has shown glimpses of greatness and has been good in patches. J Kousik has been a positive for Warriors and the same applies for AC Pratibhan. Even M Prabhu has come in handy, and so has R Jesuraj. But Warriors tend to let go of the game after striking early, which is an area of concern. It remains to be seen as to whether they play party poopers in this contest.
 
Key Battles: It will be Vijay Kumar versus Nilesh Subramanium, as both the openers have got off to good starts. If any of these two get going for their respective teams then we can witness a run-fest.