TNPL 2016: VB Thiruvallur Veerans edge past Lyca Kovai Kings in high octane thriller

In what was another thrilling contest of the India Cements TN Premier League, VB Thiruvallur Veerans beat Lyca Kovai Kings by two runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. Veerans skipper Baba Aparajith scored a superb 39-ball 74 and helped his team set a stiff 171-run target.
 
Earlier, Veerans, who won the toss and elected to bat, were off to a strong start as 46 runs were scored in the power-play. R Kavin, who scored a 20-ball 39, contributed a bulk to that total, post which the game was delayed for 15 minutes thanks to rain.
 
Aparajith, who initially took time to settle, build valuable partnerships and launched a late attack towards the death overs. He cleared the fence six times and also hit two boundaries. His seventh-wicket partnership with R Rohit was an absolute run-fest, as Kings conceded 59 runs in their last three overs.
 
Though M Mohammed, MK Siva Kumar and Harish Kumar were smashed for runs, still Arun B, who conceded only 11 runs of his three overs, fared a little better amidst that carnage. Aparajith’s is now the tournament’s leading run-scorer with 283.
 
On to Kings, and they began their run-chase in exciting fashion - clearing the ropes a few times -  before losing the wicket of Suryaprakash L to Rahil Shah. Anirudh Sita Ram later held the innings together as he built vital partnerships with both Tarun Srinivas and Harish Kumar S. R Rohith got the crucial wicket of Sita Ram as the latter holed out at mid-wicket to Samuel.
 
Sita Ram scored a fine 47-ball 63 and his wicket made all the difference in the latter part of the game. Also, a tight final over from Rahil Shah made all the difference, as he did not allow Kings to score the required 13 runs.
 
Brief scores: VB Thiruvallur Veerans 170/6 in 20 overs (Kavin R 31, 20b, 6x4, Baba Aparajith 74, 39b, 2x4, 6x6; Harish Kumar S 2/49) beat Lyca Kovai Kings 168/6 in 20 overs (Anirudh Sita Ram 63, 47b, 3x4, 3x6, Harish Kumar 46, 25b, 2x4, 3x6; R Rohit 2/40, Lakshmi Narayanan 2/33) by 2 runs