DINDIGUL: Of late, the NPR College cricket ground in Natham seems to have developed a penchant for churning out unheralded heroes for the TNPL.If it was NS Chaturved who rose from obscurity on Wednesday to take Dindigul Dragons home to a comprehensive win against Lyca Kovai Kings, it was the turn of Jones Tuti Patriots on Friday. They had not one, but two for the night: S Dinesh and Akshay Srinivasan. And both delivered — ironically — against the same team that Dindigul had pounded into the ground two days ago. Before this season, Dinesh’s credentials with the willow in TNPL had only one note to show: an 18-ball 8 for his former team — Dindigul — against his current team.
Srinivasan, on the other hand, was relatively better off. If you have the patience to delve deep into the recesses of the internet, you’d probably chance upon a couple of listicles themed “potential graduates from TNPL to IPL” with his name. The 24-year-old had created a few ripples courtesy some under-pressure knocks for Kovai last year, aggregating 125 runs at an average and strike rate of 31.25 and 137.36.
Like Chaturved did for Dindigul on Wednesday, the anonymity that Dinesh brought with him was compensated for by the celebrity status of his opening partner, Kaushik Gandhi. The Tuti skipper has carved out quite the reputation for himself in this event; one that was further cemented by his scoring of the first ton this season, against VB Kanchi Veerans.
Kaushik didn’t do anything to take his TNPL standing on a downward curve. A 25-ball 43, albeit with two lives courtesy some sloppy catching from Kovai, can still be considered an innings of note in this format. But, Dinesh needed no such reprieves to get going, even if he was up against two-thirds of the pace troika that had propelled Tamil Nadu to the Ranji Trophy semifinals in the season before the last one: K Vignesh and T Natarajan.
The southpaw matched his skipper shot for shot, as the two took toll of both the speedsters, apart from defibrillating their run rate by mangling part-time off-spinner M Shahrukh Khan.It was a double strike courtesy the left-right spin combo of Prasanth Rajesh and S Ajith Ram that Kovai were able to reel in the momentum that Tuti had gained. Before Kaushik’s departure, he and Dinesh had hit 89 runs in just 52 balls.
Then came Srinivasan’s cue to enter stage left. The left-right combo busied themselves milking the gaps, clocking in the occasional boundary. Their 30-ball, 50-run alliance reached its crescendo against Shahrukh, with Srinivasan taking 22 off the latter in the 14th over.
The southpaw’s 42-ball 59, and Srinivasan’s 21-ball 45 had billowed the Tuti’s sails, who coasted to 182/7. Their bowlers had a nice, plumped cushion to sit on. And they made the most of it, winning with 11 runs to spare.
rahul.ravi@newindianexpress.com
Brief scores: Tuti Patriots 182/7 in 20 ovs (Dinesh 59, Srinivasan 45) bt Kovai Kings 171/8 in 20 ovs (Srinaath 35; Athisayaraj 3/26, A Sumra 3/32).