TNPL 2023: Sai Sudharsan’s knock helps Kovai Kings beat Dindigul Dragons; Batters set up easy win for Tiruppur Tamizhans against Ba11sy Trichy

Purple patch: Sai Sudharsan’s composed knock was instrumental in Kovai Kings posting a huge target that was beyond Dragons’ reach.
| Photo Credit: E. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN

B. Sai Sudharsan’s purple patch continued as the youngster came up with a scintillating 83 (41b, 8×4, 4×6) to set-up a thumping 59-run win for Lyca Kovai Kings against Dindigul Dragons at the Salem Cricket Foundation ground on Sunday.

The 22-year-old’s well-composed knock and valuable cameos from the top-order powered Kovai Kings to 206 for five after being asked to bat first.

The Dragons’ chase fizzled out within the PowerPlay when left-arm spinner M. Siddharth and pacer K. Gowtham Thamarai Kannan (three for 18) picked up two wickets each to leave the team struggling at 25 for four by the fifth over.

Shivam Singh (61) and C. Sarath Kumar (36) entertained the crowd for a while, scoring a few sixes during their 77-run partnership for the sixth wicket, but it was not enough for Dragons to avoid a big defeat.

Earlier, Kings were off to a flyer with openers J. Suresh Kumar (29) and S. Sujay (31) adding 49 runs in quick time. Despite losing two wickets in the sixth over, Sai Sudharsan kept up the tempo with consecutive boundaries off left-arm spinner Mathivannan before cutting Varun Chakravarthy (0/48) in the next over.

After seeing off R. Ashwin, Sai Sudharsan went after Varun, hitting the mystery spinner for three sixes with a few neatly timed slog-sweeps to blunt one of Dragons’ main threats.

Against the pacers, he used the paddle and lap shots effectively to target the fine-leg boundary. One such stroke off Saravana Kumar took him to his fourth half-century of the season from five matches and guided his side to the top of the table.

In the second match of the day, quickfire half-centuries from R. Sai Kishore (50, 24b, 4×4, 4×6) and B. Anirudh (51, 25b, 8×4, 1×6) powered iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans to a 46-run win over Ba11sy Trichy. Put into bat, Tiruppur amassed 201 for four, with Vijay Shankar chipping in with an unbeaten 31 (18b).

In reply, Trichy started well, getting to 59 for two in the PowerPlay, but could not sustain the momentum. Left-arm spinners S. Ajith Ram (4-0-9-1) and Sai Kishore (0/21) squeezed the runs dry through the middle overs as Trichy slumped to its fourth straight defeat.

The scores: Lyca Kovai Kings 206/5 in 20 overs (S. Sujay 31, J. Suresh Kumar 29, B. Sai Sudharsan 83, U. Mukilesh 34, Saravana Kumar 2/49) bt Dindigul Dragons 147 in 19.1 overs (Shivam Singh 61, C. Sarath Kumar 36, Gowtham Thamarai Kannan 3/18, M. Siddharth 2/26, Shahrukh Khan 2/16).

iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans 201/4 in 20 overs (S. Radhakrishnan 45, R. Sai Kishore 50, Vijay Shankar 31 n.o., B. Anirudh 51) bt Ba11sy Trichy 155/8 in 20 overs (Daryl Ferrario 42, W. Antony Dhas 25, Jafar Jamal 30, P. Bhuvaneswaran 4/41).