CHENNAI: An unbeaten 26 by P Saravanan and nine-ball 21 n.o by Gurjapneet Singh helped Madurai Panthers recover from a precarious position to beat Trichy Grand Cholas by two wickets in a thrilling match of the TNPL played at Natham on Wednesday afternoon. In the second match, Nellai Royal Kings beat Chepauk Super Gillies by 50 runs. After posting 204/6, Nellai dismissed Chepauk for 154 to get off the mark.
Earlier, Madurai were 132/8 in 17.1 overs and still required 42 runs for a win. No one in the ground would have expected Saravanan and Gurjapneet to pull off a heist, but the duo sensibly register a sensational win.
This effort by Gurjapneet was not just luck, for he had told this daily just before the start of the TNPL that he had been working on his batting to stay relevant in T20s.. But little did he know that he would shine with the bat in the first opportunity he got.
Anthony Das was the pick of the Cholas bowlers as he picked up three crucial wickets to break the back of the Madurai middle-order, but he got little support at the other end. Put in to bat, Trichy Grand Cholas got off to a solid start, with the opening pair of K Rajkumar and skipper L Suresh Kumar (43) adding 71 runs for the first wicket in 6.2 overs. After that Cholas top order caved into some disciplined bowling finishing with 173/3.
Brief scores: Trichy 173/7 in 20 ovs (Suresh Kumar J 43, Sanjay Yadav 37 n.o, Rajalingam S 3/26) lost to Madurai 174/8 in 19.4 ovs (Saravanan P 26 n.o, Gurjapneet 21 n.o, Antony Dhas 3/36); Nellai 204/6 in 20 ovs (Athish SR 41, Rithik Easwaran 36; Silambarasan 2/24) bt Chepauk 154 in 17.2 ovs (S Dinesh Raj 29; NS Harish 4/25).