CHENNAI: Salem Spartans made an impressive start with the new ball. Spinner Ajith Ram provided the first breakthrough by dismissing opener Lokeshwar, who miscued an attempted inside-out shot and was caught at cover. Left-hander Sachin wrested the momentum back for Kovai Kings with a fluent innings, striking the ball cleanly to accelerate the scoring rate. He went on to register the first half-century of the TNPL Season 10.
Sachin and debutant Abhinav Kannan forged a crucial 85-run partnership for the second wicket, laying a solid platform for Kovai Kings batters to finish strongly.
However, Salem Spartans pacer Poiyamozhi struck at a crucial juncture, bringing an end to Sachin's brilliant 77, which came at a blistering strike rate of 183.33. He followed it up with a double strike, dismissing Andre Siddarth and Ambrish off successive deliveries to halt Kovai Kings late charge and restrict them to a total below 200.
Brothers Poiyamozhi and Udaya Kumar struck in tandem, claiming three wickets apiece.
Deepan Lingesh led the bowling effort with three crucial wickets in his opening spell, putting the Salem Spartans batting line-up under sustained pressure. M Siddharth made an immediate impact by dismissing Sunny Sandhu, further strengthening Kovai Kings grip on the contest. With five wickets down inside the first eight overs, the Kovai Kings bowlers maintained the upper hand through precise execution.
Reflecting on the win, Captain Shahrukh Khan said: We're a very process-oriented team and that's what we focus on going into games. The preparation was done well before the tournament. The boys were fully ready before it began and we just tried to keep things simple. Fortunately, things went our way.
Brief score: SKM Salem Spartans 160 all-out in 19.4 overs (Nidhish Rajagopal 69, M Mohammed 30, M Poiyamozhi 3/35) lost to Vida Kovai Kings 194/8 (Sachin B 77, Abhinav Kannan 32, Deepan Lingesh 3/14) by 34 runs.