CHENNAI: C Andre Siddarth's 47-ball 82 and bowlers' collective effort helped Vida Kovai Kings beat Madurai Panthers by 84 runs in the final of the Tamil Nadu Premier League at Chepauk on Friday.
Andre played a mature innings and ensured that his team, Kovai Kings, posted a challenging score of 182/7 in 20 overs.
After losing two wickets within the first four overs, Siddarth and Balasubramaniam Sachin steadied the ship before going on to post a partnership of 117 runs. However, once spinner P Saravanan claimed two quick wickets to put the brakes on Kovai's innings. First, he dismissed Sachin before going on to dismiss skipper M Shahrukh Khan in the same over. RS Ambrish also didn't last long and Kovai were in danger of collapse. However, Siddarth, with the support of Madhava Prasad, helped the team cross the 180-run mark.
In reply, Madurai made a disastrous start, losing their opener Ram Kumar the very first ball of their innings as he was caught behind by Suresh Lokeshwar off the bowling of K Deeban Lingesh. In the next over, Siddharth Mahadevan was castled by left-arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth.
From then on, NS Chaturved and V Hari Raghavendra slowly steadied the rocking boat. When Hari looked settled and set for a long innings, he was unfortunately run out.
Chaturved was also back in the pavilion after a while as he was caught in the deep by Siddharth while trying to bring down the asking rate. Captain Balchander Anirudh made a stubborn 24 and delayed the inevitable. Siddharth and Shahrukh ended with three wickets apiece.
Opting to bat first, Kovai had a poor start as they lost both their openers S Radhakrishnan and Lokeshwar for cheap. Both had made a promising starts, hitting a six and a four each. However, Lokeshwar was castled by by Saravanan, who ended with a four-wicket haul, while Radhakrisnnan was caught in the deep by Rohan Bhutra with Shoaib Md Khan taking the important wicket.
That's when Andre and Sachin took control of the proceedings. Andre was the aggressor as he found boundaries at will. His six off Shoaib was one of the highlights of the innings. Sachin rotated the strike intelligently by taking quick singles. His class was evident when he swept P Vignesh to the square leg fence. During his knock, Sachin also completed 1000 runs in the league.
Brief scores: Kovai Kings 182/7 in 20 ovs (Andre Siddarth 82, B Sachin 39; P Saravanan 4/30) bt Madurai Panthers 98 in 14.2 ovs (NS Chaturved 40; M Shahrukh Khan 3/10, M Siddharth 3/18).