Gillies keen to topple Kings

It would be payback time for Chepuak Super Gillies when they take on Lyca Kovai Kings in the second semifinal of the Tamil Nadu Premier League at the M A Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday. The Gillies, who finished at the top of the table at the end of the league stage, lost to Kovai Kings in the league phase.

A win for Gillies on Saturday would not only erase the memories of their loss, but will also send them to the summit clash. On the contrary, the Kings would be brimming with confidence of having choked the Gillies to win in Tirunelveli. But much water has flown under the bridge since then. Chepauk Super Gillies have ticked all the boxes for a comprehensive all-round performance that saw them steamroll past gritty opponents in style. Their best batsmen have struck form, their best bowlers have a golden arm and they have been a consistent fielding unit. 

Kings are equally balanced but haven’t played to their true potential. They haven’t had the services of Indian opener M Vijay, except for two matches. While they beat Dindigul Dragons in their last league match, they failed to cross the finish line in a close encounter against VB Thiruvallur Veerans and gave no fight against Karaikudi Kaalai. Chepauk openers X Thalaivan Sargunam and K H Gopinath have worked their way to give the team a strong foundation for the middle and lower order to exploit in the later overs. 

Veteran batsman S Vasanth Saravanan, skipper Rajagopal Sathish add the stability in the middle order with J Gowjith Subash and U Sasidev capable of toying with any attack in the slog overs. Chepauk Super Gillies’ bowling unit, too, works like a well-oiled machine. W Antony Dhas has been at the top of the wicket-takers list and would like to consolidate his position there. He has been good at the death and can mix up his deliveries and get the batsman to play the wrong line. 

Leftarm spinners R Alexander and R Sai Kishore have spun a web in the middle overs, with the latter boasting of an economy rate of under 6. Anirudh Sita Ram and L Suryapprakash are the vital cogs in the Kings batting line-up wheel. R Rohith and S Tarun Srinivas form the middle order while the other batsman, though haven’t chipped in as they would have liked to, have an enormous task of coming good in a crunch eliminator. Kovai Kings bowling is spearheaded by S Harish Kumar and K Vignesh, along with hat-trick hero M K Sivakumar. It would be an interesting tussle for supremacy between Chepauk openers and Kings’ new-ball bowlers, with the former having the ability to send them to the cleaners in a jiffy. Kings would bank on a good experienced strategy planner in the form of skipper J Syed Mohammed, who hasn’t been in good nick in the league. Hat-trick hero M K Sivakumar would be itching to have a go at the Chepauk middle order, but with a strike-rate of 22, Kings would want to get more out of the bowler should they need to emerge victorious.