CHENNAI: Rithik Easwaran's brilliant 69 off 31 balls came in handy for Nellai Royal Kings to beat Vida Kovai Kings by two wickets in a thrilling match of the TNPL on Thursday.
Put into bat, after a rain-delayed start, Kovai Kings had a disastrous start with Radhakrishnan falling to Emmanuel Cherian. S Lokeshwar and Sachin did the rescue act and added 59 runs for the second wicket. Yudheeswaran broke the stand by removing Lokeshwar for 26. Yudheeswaran struck once again this time dismissing Andre Siddarth shortly after. Sachin (42) and M Shahrukh Khan (29) helped the team get to 162/9 in 20 overs.
In reply, Nellai too had a poor start as opener Santhosh fell cheaply. Rithik Easwaran waged a lone battle and took his team close to victory. When five runs were needed from the final three balls, Easwaran fell to G Kishore. Sachin Rathi held his nerve to seal the win. "I believed that if I stayed till the end with a partner, we could chase the total. The trend this tournament has shown is that batters who stay till the end can almost win the game. Being vice-captain has helped me step up and take more responsibility. The catch to dismiss Andre Siddarth was purely instinctive," said an elated Easwaran after the match.
Reflecting on the loss, Shahrukh Khan said: "We took the game deep, which is a positive, but we could have bowled better in the slog overs by hitting the right lengths. The wicket was a bit sticky, and we felt 15 more runs would have helped. Our batting has been good, so we don't see the need for any major changes there."
Brief scores: Vida Kovai Kings 162/9 in 20 ovs (Sachin B 42, Lokeshwar 26, Shahrukh Khan 29, Yudheeswaran 3/25) lost to Nellai Royal Kings 163/8 in 19.5 ovs (Rithik Easwaran 69, Kishoor 3/32, Deeban Lingesh 3/41).
