Washington and Patriots continue to sizzle

Karaikudi Kaalai won the toss and elected to bat. It got off to a worst possible start when opener S Anirudha, who was in good form, was caught behind for just one run.

Skipper S Badrinath tried taking the attack to the bowlers by hitting two sixes. Washington Sundar came into the attack and his double strike saw both opening batsman Vishal Vaidhya and skipper Badrinath back in the hut. 

Tuti’s Athisayaraj had a phenomenal day as he bowled a great line and length; he picked up two wickets and also ran out the dangerous C Ganapathy. 

At the end of the powerplay, Karaikudi was reeling at 25/5. Some lusty blows from M Shajahan saw them recover as his forty-five run partnership with S Swaninathan helped them crawl back briefly into the game. 

For Patriots, Aushik Srinivas chipped in with two wickets. Karaikudi managed to bat out their quota of overs and they set Patriots a target of 123 to win. 

The most reliable opening pair of the tournament Kaushik Gandhi and Washington Sundar, who had two 100+ runs opening partnership before this game, came a cropper as Sunil Sam beat Kaushik Gandhi for pace and his stumps rearranged. 

Wicket-keeper U Sushil was also deceived and stumped as Tuti lost two wickets in the power-play. Sundar however played the role of an anchor to perfection. He hit four boundaries and three sixes in his innings and scored his second half century of the tournament. 

Despite wickets falling at the other end, he played a steady innings for his side. The Karaikudi bowlers kept their team in the hunt with an economical spell from R Rajkumar who conceded only 15 runs in his spell. 

However, in the end Patriots ran away with yet another win with stupendous all-round performances. 

Brief scores: Karaikudi Kaalai 122/9 in 20 overs (M Shajahan 43, Athisayaraj Davidson 2/19, Washington Sundar 2/22, Aushik Srinivas 2/27) lost to Albert Tuti Patriots 126/4 in 18.4 overs (Washington Sundar 62*, SP Nathan 20, S Mohan Prasath 1/20).