CHENNAI: A composed half-century by B Sachin (77) and his 75-run partnership with KTA Madhava Prasad for the seventh wicket helped Vida Kovai Kings thrash Trichy Grand Cholas by 116 runs in a Tamil Nadu Premier League tie in Dindigul on Saturday. Sachin has been one the consistent performers for Kovai this season. He was spot on with his shot selection and used the pace of the ball to score runs. His straight six off Easwaran K, followed by a subsequent square cut for the boundary in the next ball showed his class.
Set a stiff target of 202 runs for a win, Trichy failed to get going. Barring K Rajkumar who made 32, rest of the batters perished without a fight. For once, the Kovai attack fired as a unit. Jhathavedh S (3/10) and Deeban Lingesh (3/24) were the picks of the Kovai bowlers
Put in to bat, Kovai had a good start with both S Radhakrishnan and S Lokeshwar showing intent.
Radhakrishnan timed the ball well and struck Easwaran for two consecutive sixes. Later while attempting a similar shot he holed out Easwaran to be caught at mid off by Bhavan Suriya.
This wicket upset the rhythm and immediately Lokeshwar fell to Eswaran, this time J Kousik taking the catch at short mid wicket.
From then on B Sachin stood like a rock at one end and kept the scoreboard ticking as wickets fell at regular intervals at the other end.
Brief scores: Kovai 201/6 in 20 ovs (Sachin B 77) bt Trichy 85 in 16.1 ovs (Jhathavedh S 3/10)