Dindigul leg of TNPL begins with double-header

CHENNAI: The Dindigul phase of the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2023 will begin with a clash between Salem Spartans and Ba11sy Trichy at the NPR College Ground on Sunday.

After six matches at the SNR College Cricket Ground in Coimbatore, the TNPL Season 7 caravan will move to Dindigul, where seven games will be hosted from Sunday to Thursday. In the second match of the double-header on the opening day, ‘home team’ Dindigul Dragons will take on Siechem Madurai Panthers.

Talking about the pitches on offer at the NPR Ground, Nellai Royal Kings captain KB Arun Karthick said: “They usually assist the batters more, so we can expect a lot of runs. This is the favourite ground for most batters because of the conditions.”

After going down in their respective first matches, Salem and Trichy, occupying spots in the bottom half of the table, will be keen to open their account. While the Abhishek Tanwar-led Salem lost to joint defending champion Chepauk Super Gillies by 52 runs, Trichy, captained by Ganga Sridhar Raju, suffered a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Dragons.

When up against Dragons, Panthers, which had gone down to Nellai by six wickets and is led by C Hari Nishaanth, will be eyeing its maiden victory. But Madurai will have its task cut out against DD, which will be led by India international Ravichandran Ashwin and possesses mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy.

The Coimbatore leg had witnessed some scintillating performances, from B Sai Sudharsan of Lyca Kovai Kings and the Nellai duo of G Ajitesh and M Poiyamozhi.