DINDIGUL: Somehow, Siechem Madurai Panthers seem to have caught Lady Luck’s eye. A first win in Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) after 689 days — or 16 matches — ought to convince you. If that doesn’t, then the last ball of the third over of their clash against Jones Tuti Patriots on Sunday might. Skipper Kaushik Gandhi’s purple streak with his blade had just snapped. He’d thrown away his wicket for a measly 11. For the first time in this season, they had lost a man inside the powerplay. Lady Luck had left the door slightly ajar for Madurai.
And, they chose mystery spinner Varun Chakravathi as the man to put his foot on that aforementioned door. As a net bowler for IPL champions Chennai Super Kings this season, he’d been pitted against his fair share of willow-wielding berserkers.
During this edition of TNPL, the 27-year-old had shown that he’d learnt how to sneak in six quick deliveries without getting the ball mangled. Quick through the air and subtle with his variations — enough to bring both edges of the bat into play regularly — Chakravathi was (and still is) the sole bowler in this season’s top-ten wicket-takers to have an economy below 6. Four scalps (joint third) while conceding only 5.16 runs per over does make for a good statistic.
If you’re still not swayed, he was also Madurai’s sole bowling survivor when Dindigul Dragons had carpet-bombed his comrades during their nine-wicket rout in their tournament opener. With 5.75, Chakravathi was the only man from his team to have a single-digit economy rate.
Chakravathi was even singled out by Brad Hogg — lending his voice to Star Sports as a commentator for this event — as a quality tweaker, a couple of days ago. “He’s got a very good craft. I think he bowled sensationally in their first game,” observed the former Australia spinner. “He did show a bit of inconsistency with his line and length in the second, but that happens every now and then when you use a lot of variations. I’m very impressed with him.”
All this, though, would come to mean nothing at the NPR College campus on Sunday if Tuti’s batting might were to sweep their Kaushik setback under the rug (they were placed at 20/1 in 3 overs). Two frugal overs on either side of powerplay, peppered with slow off-cutters, sliders, and the occasional googly, sowed enough seeds of doubt in Tuti batting line-up. So much so that when he was introduced back into the attack, S Dinesh — another in-form batsman who was in the process of rescuing his team with his 29-ball 35 — hit Chakravathi’s first ball — a half-tracker — straight to the fielder at deep mid-wicket.
Tuti could never resuscitate their flailing run rate, as Chakravathi and his fellow bowlers constantly kept laying out tacks to deflate it. Despite some death-over pyrotechnics from R Sathish, Tuti could muster only 165/5 in their 20 overs, as the spinner finished with 1/23. Madurai eventually cantered to a seven-wicket win.
rahul.ravi@newindianexpress.com
Brief scores: Tuti Patriots 165/6 in 20 ovs (Anand 44, Akshay 42; Abhishek 3/28) lost to Madurai Panthers 166/3 in 18.4 ovs (Karthik 59; Athisayaraj 2/30). Kanchi Veerans 166/4 in 20 ovs (Mokit 77, Francis 64) lost to Dindigul Dragons 171/3 in 19.1 ovs (Hari 50, Jagadeesan 41, Chaturved 41 n.o).