Tirunelveli, July 31: Washington Sundar was again the star with his all-round performance as he helped table-toppers Albert TuTi Patriots beat Karaikudi Kaalai by 6 wickets in the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2017. Patriots won their 3rd match in a row on Sunday (July 30) at the ICL Ground, Tirunelveli.
Veerans down Warriors
After electing to bat first, Karaikudi Kaalai got off to the worst possible start as in-form opener S Anirudha was caught behind for just one run.
S Badrinath took on Patriorts' attack and hit two sixes. Sundar came into the attack and his double strike saw both opening batsmen Vishal Vaidhya and skipper Badrinath back in the hut.
Athisayaraj had a phenomenal day as he bowled a great line and length and picked up two wickets and also ran the dangerous C Ganapathy out.
Karaikudi were reeling at 25 for 5 at the end of the batting powerplay. Some lusty blows from M Shajahan saw Karaikudi recover from their precarious position.
His 45-run partnership with Swaninathan S helped Karaikudi briefly crawl back into the game. Patriorts kept taking wickets and never let them settle down into a rhythm.
Aushik Srinivas chipped in with two scalps as well. Karaikudi managed to bat out their quota of overs as they set TuTi a target of 123 to win.
The most reliable opening pair of the tournament, Kaushik Gandhi and Sundar, have had two 100-plus runs opening partnership, coming into this game.
Their run was stopped as an early-strike by Sunil Sam saw Kaushik Gandhi being beaten for pace and his stumps rattled. Wicketkeeper U Sushil was also deceived and stumped as Patriots lost two wickets in the powerplay.
Sundar however played the role of an anchor to perfection. He hit four boundaries and three sixes in his innings and scored his second half-century of the tournament.
Despite wickets falling at the other end, he played a steady innings for his side. The Karaikudi bowlers kept their team in the hunt, thanks to an economical spell from R Rajkumar, who conceded only 15 runs in his four overs. However, in the end it proved to be few runs on the board and Patriots secured yet another win.
Sundar was adjudged Man-of-the-match, his third award in as many matches.
Brief scores: Karaikudi Kaalai 122/9 in 20 overs (M Shajahan 43, 29b, 2x4, 4x6; Athisayaraj Davidson 2/19, Washington Sundar 2/22, AushikSrinivas 2/27) lost to Albert TuTi Patriots 126/4 in 18.4 overs (Washington Sundar 62, 47b, 4x4, 3x6, SP Nathan 20, 25b, 1x4, 1x6; S Mohan Prasath 1/20) by 6 wickets.
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