TNPL 2018: Defending champions CSG register their first win of the season

Set to score 181, Veerans got a start but could not get going and was restricted to 167 for nine. Arun and Vishal Vaidhya gave Veerans a flying start when they put on 53 in 5.5 overs but once Samruddh Bhat struck the Kanchi team run rate slipped. Super Gillies struck again in the seventh over when Sivakumar took a wicket that of Arun’s with the first ball he bowled. Sivakumar dismissed Mokit in the same over as Veerans slumped to 55 for three. 

Earlier, a stroke-filled 76 from S Karthik and a late charge by all-rounder Murugan Ashwin (34 off 17 balls) helped Super Gillies run up 180 for five in its 20 overs. 

Left-handed Ganga Sridhar Raju fell early but Karthik was in fine touch hitting five fours in the first two overs. In five overs Chepauk Super Gillies reached 55 for one and at the end of Powerplay the score was 69 for one. The defending champion looked set for a score of 200 when it raised the 100 in 10 overs for the loss of only one wicket. But Kanchi Veerans applied the brakes from 11 to 16 overs to not just contain the Super Gillies but take some important wickets too. 

Skipper Aparajith bowled two crucial overs to take two wickets for eight runs as Chepauk slumped from 110 for one in 11 overs to 133 for five in 16 overs. It all started with KH Gopinath (31 off 22 balls) drove Sunil Sam straight to Mokit at mid-wicket. Then Aparajith came on and bowled a tight first over. His second was more effective as he dismissed a dangerous Karthik caught at deep mid-wicket as the batsman went f or a wild heave. He had hit 11 fours and two sixes in his knock. In the same over, Aparajith had Sasidev caught and bowled as Veerans seemed to restrict CSG to a score of 160. However, Ashwin hit four sixes in his unbeaten 34 as Chepauk Super Gillies plundered 33 runs in the last two overs.

BRIEF SCORES: Chepauk Super Gillies 180/5 in 20 overs (S Karthik 76, M Ashwin 34*) bt Kanchi Veerans 167/9 in 20 overs (S Arun 27, M Ashwin 2/22, M Sivakumar 2/21)