DINDIGUL: The clash between Chepauk Super Gillies and VB Kanchi Veerans was considered low-key by many because of being the bottom two in the points table.
Before this match, Kanchi had found a way to notch up their first win, against Lyca Kovai Kings, but the defending champions had no points to show. But on Tuesday, Chepauk for once looked like they have the stomach for a fight, and made this contest an interesting one.
Unlike the first two editions — where they had performers like R Sathish, X Thalaivan Sargunam, R Sai Kishore, Vasanth Saravanan — Chepauk did not have their core. Instead, they decided to experiment with new players in the form of the experienced S Karthik, Ganga Sridhar Raju and skipper KH Gopinath.
Even as coach Hemang Badani had mentioned earlier about how his team had not performed as a unit, it was clearly their batting that had been below-par this season. In a tournament where the average score has been 157.8, Gopinath and Co made 138.8 in their first five matches.
Before this encounter, only once did a Chepauk batsman hit a fifty. Even during their second match against Siechem Madurai Panthers, when their bowlers did a commendable job to restrict the team to 153, their batsmen again failed to click, collapsing to 127.But their outing at NPR College cricket ground in Natham on Tuesday was quite the opposite.
After losing opener Raju for 5, the duo of Karthik and Gopinath went out all guns during their 82-run stand. The intent shown by Chepauk’s top-order could not have been clearer: utilise the quick outfield and score as much as possible in powerplay.
Sixty-nine runs in the first six overs — their highest ever first-six tally till date — was a sign of how they were playing for tjhe first time without the pressure of being reigning champions.
Their middle-order, though, once again threw away their wickets in a quick succession. It was only courtesy contributions from their lower-middle order (47 off 24 from Murugan Ashwin and Aarif A) helped them regain momentum to post a total of 180.
Like coach Badani said, Chepauk might not have found their rhythm, but this win and a one more will show if that the men in red and gold can learn from their mistakes this season.
“We know that we have under-performed, but we are not as bad as the results show. Today, everything went according to the plan. We wanted to be in the contest from the very first ball. A few good performances at the end can help us look forward to the tournament next year.”
srinidhi.pr@newindianexpress.com
Brief scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 180/5 in 20 ovs (S Karthik 76, KH Gopinath 31, M Ashwin 34 n.o; Baba Aparajith 2/18) bt VB Kanchi Veerans in 167/9 in 20 ovs (MK Sivakumar 2/21, M Ashwin 2/22, Samruddh Bhat 2/38).