TNPL 2018: Ruby Trichy Warriors win but fail to qualify for playoffs
Ruby Trichy Warriors needed to chase 137 in 7.5 overs if they were to keep their TNPL 2018 playoff hopes alive. That didn't quite happen but they beat VB Kanchi Veerans by six wickets to finish their campaign, which has been streaky with four wins.
After winning their first two games, Trichy looked set for a playoff push but three successive losses meant they had a mountain to climb in the last two games. And despite winning both, their inferior net run rate means that they couldn't quite make it.
Chasing 137, Trichy openers Bharath Shankar and Mani Bharathy had their task cut out for them to make the playoffs. But after Mani Bharathy was dismissed inside the powerplay, any slim hopes they had vanished and they seemed content to finish their season with a win.
And that is just what happened thanks to a fifty from Bharath Shankar and a late cameo from Vasanth Saravanan got the Warriors over the line with 14 balls and six wickets to spare.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Kanchi Veerans struggled to get any momentum. They lost both openers inside the powerplay and lost captain Baba Aparajith just after.
They just kept losing wickets at regular intervals and it took some late hitting from Francis Rokins to get them close to 140. In the end, although that wasn't enough to get them a win to finish the season, their quantum of loss was minimal and that resulted in them not walking away with the wooden spoon.
Brief Scores: VB Kanchi Veerans 136/8 in 20 overs (Francis Rokins 43*, U Vishal 25, Vignesh Kannan 2/25, Sonu Yadav 2/26) lost to Ruby Trichy Warriors 139/4 in 17.4 overs (Bharath Shankar 69, Baba Indrajith 26, C Shriram 2/20, Aushik Srinivas 2/20)
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