Dragons seals top-two spot

CHENNAI: Dindigul Dragons sealed a top-two spot in the Tamil Nadu Premier League round-robin stage as it defeated Salem Spartans by seven wickets in the India Cements Company Ground in Tirunelveli on Monday. Opting to bowl first, Dragons restricted Spartans to 160 for six after Sunny Sandhu’s (57 off 39 balls, 2 fours, 4 sixes) second successive half-century.

In the second essay, Dindigul cruised to its target with 10 balls left in the bank, thanks to a captain’s knock from Baba Indrajith (83 not out off 50 balls, 9 fours, 3 sixes). Dragons (12 points from 7 matches) finished second on the table and set up a Qualifier 1 meeting with topper Lyca Kovai Kings (12 points from 7 matches) while Spartans (4 points from 7 matches) was eliminated from the tournament.

In the chase, opening batter Vimal Khumar (42 off 36 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) and Indrajith laid the foundation for victory by accumulating 93 runs for the second-wicket partnership. While Vimal scored at less than run-a-ball until the half-way stage, Indrajith took the attack to the opposition after getting set. Indrajith brought up his half-century with a single over backward point in the 13th over that was bowled by Sachin Rathi. After the end of the contest, ‘Man of the Match’ Indrajith said: “It was an important match.

Reaching top-two gives us extra cushion (two chances to get to the final) and the match went well.” Earlier, Sandhu impressed with the bat for the second match in succession and guided Salem to 160 for six, which was not enough in the end. BRIEF SCORES: Salem Spartans 160/6 in 20 overs (Sunny Sandhu 57, Varun Chakravarthy 2/17, Suboth Bhati 2/37) lost to Dindigul Dragons 163/3 in 18.2 overs (Baba Indrajith 83*, Vimal Khumar 42, Sunny Sandhu 2/36)