Nellai Royal Kings was in a spot of bother with 57 needed off 21 balls to qualify for the final. Nidhish Rajagopal was struggling to find the boundaries, scoring 26 off 27, even as G. Ajitesh (73 n.o., 44b, 5x4, 5x6) single-handedly kept the side in the game with another swashbuckling innings.
It took a brave call by the Royal Kings management to retire Nidhish and get Rithik Easwaran (39 n.o., 11b, 6x6) in. Under tremendous pressure, The young left-handerr showed a calm head and used his beautiful bat swing to do the talking with telling effect as Royal Kings beat Dindigul Dragons by seven wickets in a nail-biting thrilling Qualifier-2 of the TNPL here at the ICL ground on Monday.
With 37 needed off the last two overs, Rithik flayed G. Kishoor for three sixes down the ground off the first three balls of the 19th over. Ajitesh hit the fifth ball for a six before Kishoor delivered a no ball off the last delivery, allowing Rithik to scoop the final legal delivery over fine-leg as 33 came off that over.
