Powered by opener J. Suresh Kumar (64, 29b, 6x4, 4x6) and skipper M. Shahrukh Khan (53, 23b, 6x4, 3x6), Lyca Kovai Kings got to 208 for five and defeated Siechem Madurai Panthers by 44 runs in the seventh season of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) at the India Cement Company ground here on Sunday.
Both Suresh and Shahrukh backed themselves to play shots. Suresh hit four sixes - an upper-cut over deep-point off medium-pacer Ajay Krishna, a pull off a short ball off left-arm spinner Saravanan over long-on, an exquisitely-timed inside-out off Washington Sundar, and leg-spinner M. Ashwin’s full-toss put away straight down the ground.
Shahrukh imperiously pulled a short ball off J. Kousik to deep-midwicket, slog-swept M. Ashwin that landed to the right of long-on, and whacked Saravanan straight for his three sixes.
Suresh brought up the fastest fifty of this season in 21 balls only for Shahrukh to surpass the feat with his 20-ball fifty. Shahrukh also picked up two for 35, and took a catch.
In contrast to Suresh and Shahrukh, B. Sachin (67, 51b, 5x4, 2x6) unobtrusively kept accumulating runs and got to his fifty in the 18th over, having walked in to bat in the first.
Shoddy fielding
Madurai was sloppy on the field and conceded at least five fours through mis fields. Three of those came in the same M. Ashwin over with Shahrukh Khan being the beneficiary - at deep cover, Madurai captain Hari Nishaanth at point, and Swapnil at long-on.
Swapnil also dropped a catch in the last over of the Kovai innings - he ran in from long-off, overshot a bit, and thus mispositioned himself for the catch.
In the second match of the day, left-arm spinner M. Silambarasan picked up five for 12 in just three overs to help Chepauk Super Gillies bowl out Ba11sy Trichy for 71 and post a 58-run win.
He had K. Rajkumar caught behind with a ball that went with the arm, S.P. Vinod and R. Silambarasan lbw, K. Easwaran caught by B. Aparajith at slip, and Daryl Ferrario stumped.
Daryl Ferrario shouldered Trichy’s chase and managed to score 45 (30b, 4x4, 2x6). He’s the only Trichy batter who scored in double figures.
Earlier, skipper and leg-spinner Ganga Sridhar Raju picked up three for 15 as Ba11sy Trichy restricted Chepauk for 129 for seven.
The scores:
Lyca Kovai Kings 208/5 in 20 overs (Suresh Kumar 64, B. Sachin 67, M. Shahrukh Khan 53, Gurjapneet Singh 2/30, Swapnil Singh 2/26) bt Siechem Madurai Panthers 164 in 18 overs (S. Lokeshwar 41, Hari Nishaanth 33, M. Siddharth 3/32, M. Shahrukh Khan 2/35, V. Yudheeswaran 2/16).
Chepauk Super Gillies 129/7 in 20 overs (R. Sibi 31, U. Sasidev 25, K. Easwaran 2/28, Ganga Sridhar Raju 3/15) bt Ba11sy Trichy 71 in 13.4 overs (Daryl Ferrario 45, M. Silambarasan 5/12, Sanjay Yadav 2/7).
