CSG captain Kaushik confident of reaching final

Defending champion Chepauk, which suffered two losses on the bounce to finalist Ruby Trichy Warriors in the round-robin stage and Qualifier 1 of TNPL 2021, will lock horns with Dindigul Dragons at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Friday.

A victory in the second of two qualifiers will guarantee CSG a spot in the title clash, which would be its fourth in TNPL history. “We are not thinking about what a win in Qualifier 2 would give us. We take every game as it comes and look to give our best. We will follow the same processes,” Kaushik told DT Next. “We are pretty relaxed. We are focussed on going out to the middle and expressing ourselves. We have been playing well in patches, but haven’t been able to control matches. If we can do the basics right with bat and ball for 20 overs each, we should be good,” said Kaushik, who led Chepauk to its second title in 2019.

CSG will once again rely on its experienced campaigners such as Narayan Jagadeesan, Rajagopal Sathish, R Sai Kishore and Manimaran Siddharth besides captain Kaushik to get the job done.

The team will, however, miss the services of pacer Sandeep Warrier, who is out of the tournament with an injury.

Hari Nishaanth-led Dindigul comes into the contest on the back of a comfortable win against Lyca Kovai Kings in the Eliminator and would provide a tough test for Chepauk.