TNPL 2018: Karaikudi Kaalai edge out Trichy Warriors for third successive win

S Anirudha of Karaikudi Kaalai en route his match-winning 41

Tirunelveli, July 28: iDream Karaikudi Kaalai pulled off an extraordinary win in a heart-stopping thriller against Ruby Trichy Warriors to register their third consecutive win in the TNPL 2018 at the ICL Sankar Nagar ground in Tirunelveli on Friday night (July 27).

The match boiled down to the last over as Karaikudi Kaalai needed three runs to win in the last six balls with the last pair batting at the crease. Needing one run to win from the last two balls, Yo Mahesh 13 n.o, (15b, 1x4) seized the win with a single on the penultimate ball as the Kaalai rejoiced in unison.

After bundling out Ruby Trichy Warriors for only 114, the Kaalais started well with V Aditya 19 (18b, 1x4, 2x6) and S Anirudha 41 (28b, 5x4, 1x6) scoring briskly.

Rest of the Karaikudi Kaalai batting order faltered as the Trichy Warriors fought bravely to script a stunning comeback. Suresh Kumar bowled an outstanding spell of 3 for 12 to give the Warriors an upper hand.

FULL SCOREBOARD

Earlier in the night, batting first, the Warriors had a wretched start as they lost their opener, K Bharath Shankar 11 (7b, 2x4), in the second over. Captain Baba Indrajith 3 (7) was stumped off a wide in the very next over bowled by the leg-spinner S Kishan Kumar.

The pacer duo, V Yo Mahesh and R Rajkumar, jolted the Warriors further to leave them at a precarious 44 for 5 in six overs. Suresh Kumar S and Mani Bharathi 22 (26b, 1x4) stitched a face-saving partnership of 35 (48) for the seventh wicket.

The left-arm spinner S Mohan Prasath (3-23) then dismissed Suresh Kumar 22 (33) to spark another collapse, the number 10 batsman MS Sanjay then top-scored with an unbeaten 28 (17b,2x4,x2x6) to take the eventual team total to 115.

Brief Scores: Ruby Trichy Warriors: 114 all out in 19.5 overs (MS Sanjay n.o. 28; Mohan Prasath 3-23, R Rajkumar 2-21, V Yo Mahesh 2-25) lost to iDream Karaikudi Kaalai: 115/9 in overs (S Anirudha 41, Suresh Kumar 3-12, Sonu Yadav 2-29) by one wicket.