TIRUNELVELI: At the halfway mark, one of the astonishing things in the third edition of Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) — apart from defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies getting knocked out — is the number of runs scored. After 21 matches, one can notice an upward swing in the run-graph compared to last season.While the average score in the second edition was 138.5, it has gone up to 157.8 this year.
The number of occasions teams have scored in excess of 150 was 27 from 64 innings last year. It has already gone past the previous year’s number (29) in only 42 innings. From notching up a boundary every 6.41 balls (boundary per cent being 54.97), players have been doing that in every 6.17 balls (boundary per cent being 56.73) this time.
Though the number of matches conducted in Tirunelveli and Dindigul — relatively smaller grounds than Chepauk — can be a factor to arrive at the conclusion, it is not just that. The outfield has also helped them score big. The NPR College ground in Natham can be regarded as one of the quickest outfields out of the three venues while the ICL grounds in Sankar Nagar, where the pitch is on the slower side, also has a quick outfield.
While 28 of 32 matches being conducted in the aforementioned venues can be a huge factor, it is no easy task to bat in Tirunelveli where the wind is blowing at a speed of 24 km per hour. This edition, in particular, has seen more batsmen adapting to these conditions. Even though it is not a flat track, players like N Jagadeesan, Kaushik Gandhi, KB Arun Karthik have proved their mettle here where there is a bit of turn. Dot ball frequency has increased from 2.68 in 2017 to 2.76 in 2018. Courtesy strike rotation, batsmen have been able to pick gaps much better.
Adding to that, of the top-10 run-getters this year, barring Jones Tuti Patriots’ R Sathish, all are top-order batsmen. In that bunch, aggression and power-hitting have been the go-to word. Even as former Australia batsman Mike Hussey and former India spinner L Sivaramakrishnan discussed how important it is to look for fours and not just hit sixes, the tournament has seen batsmen go back to the see-ball-and-hit-ball policy. While the previous edition witnessed 11.15 sixes being hit per match, that number has risen to 13.52 per match.
Pitch curator M Kothandaram said that the tournament should entertain people. “TNPL should be enjoyed by families. In order to make that, we went for batting-friendly pitches. Wind is one of the factors that decide how matches end up in Tirunelveli.”
Brief scores: Dindigul Dragons 177 in 20 ovs (Anirudh Sitaram 53, Vivek R 42; Ashwath Mukunthan 5/36) lost to iDream Karaikudi Kaalai 179/4 in 18.3 ovs (V Aditya 49, Srikkanth Anirudha 43, R Rajkumar 41; Hari Nishanth 2/23).
srinidhi@newindianexpress.com