TNPL 2018: Ruby Trichy Warriors keep playoff hopes alive
Ruby Trichy Warriors ended their three-game losing streak and kept their playoff hopes alive after their seven-wicket win over Jones Tuti Patriots at the NPR College ground in Dindigul. Fifties from Bharath Shankar and Baba Indrajith helped them get over the line with an over to spare and go level on points with Tuti Patriots.
Chasing 158 for victory, Trichy Warriors' new-look opening pair of Bharath Shankar and Mani Bharathy gave their side the ideal platform by putting on a fifty partnership for the second successive game. An unbeaten fourth-wicket partnership of 72 between Indrajith and Ganapathy Chandrasekhar saw Trichy over the line.
After being sent into bat, Tuti Patriots lost captain Kaushik Gandhi early but S Dinesh and Anand Subramanian ensured that the early wicket didn't hurt them inside the powerplay. After six overs, Tuti were going great guns at 52/1. But Trichy came back into the contest by getting rid of both set batsmen in the space of two overs.
After that, Nidish S was struggling early in his innings but he was dropped on 7 by Bharath Shankar off the bowling of Vignesh Kannan. That proved to be costly as he added 73 for the fourth wicket with S Abishiek before he was finally dismissed for 41. His partner followed three balls later and that gave Trichy a much-needed boost towards the end.
From 123/3 after 15 overs, Tuti scored just 34 in the final five overs as they lost wickets at regular intervals to eventually end up with just 157/7. In the end, that wasn't enough as Trichy got over the line with an over to spare.
Turning point: The fall of Nidish and Abishiek, who put on 73 for the fourth wicket in the space of four balls meant that Tuti couldn't apply the final flourish with the bat and that cost them in the end.
Brief Scores: Tuti Patriots 157/7 in 20 overs (Nidish S Rajagopal 41, S Dinesh 30, S Abishiek 30, R Sonu Yadav 2/25, Tamil Kumaran 2/28) lost to Ruby Trichy Warriors 140 after 20 overs (Bharath Shankar 51, B Indrajith 50* Ganesh Moorthi 2/30) by 7 wickets.
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