K.B. Arun Karthick led from the front for Nellai Royal Kings with a sensational unbeaten hundred (104 n.o., 61b, 10x4, 5x6) to help his side breeze past Chepauk Super Gillies by eight wickets in the TNPL at the Salem Cricket Foundation ground on Saturday.
Chasing 160 for victory, Arun Karthick took the bull by its horns, scoring two boundaries off pacer Harish Kumar in the first over to set the ball rolling.
Racing to 56
He then went after medium-pacer R. Rohith, lofting him for a six over mid-wicket and two boundaries in one over as Royal Kings raced to 56 for no loss in the PowerPlay.
The 37-year-old Arun Karthick, known for his sweep shot, used it to brutal effect against the Super Gillies’ spinners with four out of his five sixes and a handful of boundaries coming from this stroke.
Fittingly, the Nellai skipper scored the winning runs in style by slog-sweeping left-arm spinner M. Silambarasan for a six to get to his third TNPL century.
Earlier, Super Gillies managed to post 159 for seven riding on B. Aparajith’s 79 (51b, 4x4, 5x6).
Slow start
After being circumspect initially, Aparajith cut loose in the 10th over, hitting pacer Sandeep Warrier for two sixes down the ground.
He then changed gears to smash left-arm spinner N.S. Harish for a hat-trick of sixes and a boundary as 28 runs came in the 16th over.
Just when Super Gillies threatened to post a big score, pacers M. Poiyamozhi and R. Sonu Yadav pulled it back for Royal Kings without conceding a boundary in the last two overs before Arun Karthick took centre-stage.
Panthers on the prowl
In the second match of the day, the Siechem Madurai Panthers’ bowlers, led by left-arm pacer Gurjapneet Singh (three for 15), set up an easy seven-wicket win for the 2018 champion after bowling out Salem Spartans for just 98.
After Panthers opted to field, Gurjapneet struck twice in his first two overs, including the crucial wicket of Kaushik Gandhi.
Then the Panthers’ spin attack ran through the middle-order to leave Spartans struggling at 23 for five, from which it never recovered.
Panthers then chased down the small target with seven overs to spare to post its first win of the season.
The scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 159/7 in 20 overs (B. Aparajith 79, M. Poiyamozhi 3/25, Lakshya Jain 2/10) lost to Nellai Royal Kings 160/2 in 18.5 overs (K.B. Arun Karthick 104 n.o., Rithik Easwaran 26).
Salem Spartans 98 in 19.4 overs (Abhishek Tanwar 29, Gurjapneet Singh 3/15, V. Gowtham 2/28, M. Ashwin 2/18) lost to Siechem Madurai Panthers 101/3 in 13 overs (S. Sri Abisek 32 n.o., Swapnil Singh 25 n.o.).
