Gillies hope to continue winning run

Both Super Gillies and Warriors have played two matches and have lost one and won the other. The Gillies, who lost to Patriots, came back strongly with their 67run win against Karaikudi Kalai in Natham last week. With skipper Rajagopal Sathish leading from the front, Super Gillies have gelled well as a unit. While Sathish, wicket-keeper batsman K H Gopinath and Thalaivan Sargunam were among the runs, R Alexander, Antony Dhas and Sathish have been impressive with the ball. 

Kanchi Warriors would be keen to pull up their socks after they lost their last match against Dindigul Dragons. With big names like B Indrajith, J Kousik, M Shahrukh Khan in their batting line-up and R Jesuraj, J Kaushik and A C Prathiban with the ball, Warriors would bank on enough fuel to go the distance. Gillies’s pacer Yo Mahesh said the five-day break has been utilised well. “The focus in the break was more on improvement on skills. We also had enough time to introspect on how each individual can help in the team’s cause.  It has been a good break, we got to regroup and we have had quality training sessions,” Mahesh added. 

With the Gillies playing four matches in the next 10 days, Mahesh said the break had come at the right time. “It is lucky that the break is after a win. It has created a positive impact. We have to play five games in next 10 days and it would be good to carry a winning momentum. Breaks are more of a mental thing. It is about carrying good memories from the last match,” he said.  

The experienced bowler had a poor outing at Natham when he gave away 23 runs in his first over when M Vijay Kumar was on a rampage. The pacer said poor overs are a part of the T20 format. “I did give a lot of runs in my first over. It happens in this format. Bowlers need to bounce back and I think I did well in the next over. I am looking forward for the next game,” Mahesh added. 

The 28-year-old pacer said the Super Gillies are an all-round unit and are not over-dependant on one batsman or a bowler. “We have seen useful contributions from everyone in the team where every batsman had chipped in with some runs. It is a positive that everyone is in good nick. We would have everyone scoring some runs rather than one person scoring throughout. And if he fails, it will be an issue. Thankfully we are not in that situation,” Mahesh said.

Karaikudi Kaalai, currently at the bottom of the table in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, will have to put up a strong performance against Tuti Patriots on Saturday at the ICL ground here if they have to make their presence felt in the league. With two straight defeats against VB Thiruvallur Veerans and Chepauk Super Gillies, Kaalai is yet to open its account while Tuti Patriots are on two points. Patriots, who started with a bang defeating Super Gillies in the opening encounter of the TNPL, came a cropper in the next match against Lyca Kovai Kings. The absence of Dinesh Karthik was felt in that match as they were bundled out for 95 with only Washington Sundar making almost half the total. Kaalai should draw strength from this result and try to get their campaign on the right track.