TNPL 2016: Mukunthan magic sinks Veerans as Gillies storm into semis!
In what proved to be a one-sided contest, Chepauk Super Gillies thrashed VB Thiruvallur Veerans by 41 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium at Chennai on Monday, and booked their spot in the semi-finals in the Tamil Nadu Premier League.
Ashwath Mukunthan, who finished with figures of 5 for 17 on debut, was also the second bowler after L Balaji to take a five-wicket haul in the tournament.
Earlier, Gillies who won the toss and elected to bat first got off to a flier thanks to half-centuries from KH Gopinath and Vasanth Saravanan. But it was an outstanding opening spell by Mukunthan which set up the win for Gillies.
A no-ball in the first over proved to be costly for Veerans as Abhishek Tanwar broke through the defences of opener Gopinath when the latter was on seven. Joy turned to despair in a matter of seconds as Gopinath was later called back after it was declared a no-ball.
He fully capitalised the life-line and built a partnership with Thalaivan Sargunam, smashing Veerans’ bowlers all around the park. A soft dismissal saw the back of Thalaivan Sargunam as he was dismissed on 13 after poking the ball back to the bowler.
The powerplay produced 48 runs for the loss of one wicket, and the second-wicket partnership between Gopinath and Saravanan yielded 86 runs off 66 balls. A late charge from Veerans saw them bounce back after the Gillies had set up the perfect platform to launch a late blitz.
Gillies’ innings consisted of eight sixes and seven boundaries. Veerans got off to a stuttering start in their run-chase as Mukunthan picked up three wickets in the powerplay to cause early damage.
Kavin’s wicket was Mukunthan’s first and the celebratory jig that ensued was worth watching! He also dismissed Hari Nishaanth in the second over off a slower delivery with Veerans skipper Baba Aparajith being his third.
That was probably the turning point, as the in-form Aparajith fell for a duck thanks to a brilliant low diving catch by Sargunam. Veerans could only score 37 runs in their first ten overs and also lost five wickets in the bargain.
Alexander R continued his great form with the ball and picked up two wickets. Though R Rohit and Malolan Rangarajan offered some late resistance, the Veerans were never able to recover from the early blows and crashed to a heavy defeat.
Brief scores:
Chepauk Super Gillies 154/3 in 20 overs (KH Gopinath 62 not-out, 55b, 4x4, 2x6, Vasanth Saravanan 54, 36b, 2x4, 4x6; Lakshmi Narayanan 2/31)
B Thiruvallur Veerans 113/9 in 20 overs (Malolan Rangarajan 23, 23b, 3x4, R Rohit 34 not-out, 18b, 3x4, 2x6 ; Aswath Mukunthan 5/17, Alexander R 2/33) by 41 runs