DINDIGUL: This was always supposed to be Dindigul’s night. Tamil Nadu Premier League was returning to NPR College ground in Natham for the fourth time on Friday. R Ashwin, the skipper of Dindigul Dragons, had come back into their fold after chewing up and spitting out a boatload of County batsmen in England over the last month or so. The presence of Chennai Super Kings man Kedar Jadhav, both at the ground and with the microphone for the first time, had further stoked the home fans, who vociferously backed their team to pound Chepauk Super Gillies into the ground. They did have their moments. Ashwin was showcasing his batting skills for them.
A scratchy six apart — a flick aimed at long leg ended up going over the rope at third man — he toyed around with Chepauk’s bowlers for a while. Caressed aerial drives were unfurled. Poses were held as the ball blazed to the boundary. Fans kept finding their voices all through his 19-ball 37. Everything seemed okay as he tided over the fall of C Hari Nishaanth at the hands of G Periyasamy, a slingy pacer for whom even impaired vision hasn’t stopped from playing cricket.
Ashwin’s drives and flicks kept all but one galleries — filled with Chepauk fans — dancing and screaming themselves hoarse. And then came R Alexandar. The left-arm spinner had been a tidy hand for Chepauk last year, keeping a leash on oppositions with his economical outings that also fetched him wickets frequently. He’d already proved during his run with Crombest RC at the last Raja of Palayampatti Shield — second-highest wicket-taker — that he could be counted on to get breakthroughs.
He did exactly that against Dindigul. Unlike most of the left-arm spinners in the event, Alexandar wasn’t afraid of slowing the ball down, dragging it wide of batsmen. A wicket-maiden first up took out Dindigul’s opener N Jagadeesan. He came back again, looping and darting his way to two more scalps in the 14th. With their back broken, the hosts could only put on 115/9 in their quota. But, this was supposed to be Dindigul’s night. It was perhaps the crowd. Or it was perhaps their captain himself, who was in his bowlers’ ears all the time from either mid-on or mid-off.
Jagannathan Kaushik steamed in in his first over. A zero for Kaushik Gandhi, and four runs for KH Gopinath. V Ganga Sridhar Raju flapped an M Mohammed bouncer onto his stumps in the next. Three gun batsmen gone. Ashwin and his Dragons smelled blood.
A field with the ‘v’ between long off and deep point left wide open. But absolutely no width to drive from his team’s spinners. Pressure built. End result? A Aarif ’s and U Sasidev’s attempts at resistance came to an end. And with that, the will to fight from the visitors.
This was supposed to be Dindigul’s night, and it did end up becoming theirs. Brief scores: Dindigul 115/9 in 20 ovs (Ashwin 37) bt Chepauk 105/9 in 20 ovs (Silambarasan 4/13).