TNPL 2025: Vimal’s blitzkrieg steers Dindigul Dragons into TNPL final
The match was poised on a knife’s edge with Dindigul needing 52 off 24 balls before Vimal single-handedly turned the tide in his team’s favour with a brutal display of one-upmanship
DINDIGUL: R Vimal Khumar’s stunning assault on Rohith Suthar in the 17th over that fetched 34 runs, including five consecutive sixes, helped defending champion Dindigul Dragons pull off a four-wicket win over four-time champion Chepauk Super Gillies in Qualifier-2 of the Tamil Nadu Premier League at the NPR College ground here on Friday. Dindigul will take on Tiruppur Tamizhans in the final on Sunday. The Dragons won with eight balls to spare.
The match was poised on a knife’s edge with Dindigul needing 52 off 24 balls before Vimal single-handedly turned the tide in his team’s favour with a brutal display of one-upmanship. His boundary-hitting spree started off with a four before following that up with five sixes to bring the equation down to 18 runs off 18 balls. In the 18th over bowled by the seasoned Vijay Shankar, Hunny Saini struck two back-to-back boundaries to further ease the pressure on Dindigul.
Earlier, B Aparajith and N Jagadeesan hit combative fifties to lift the Super Gillies to a competitive 178/7.
Put in to bat, Gillies, the most decorated franchise in the competition with four titles, lost its openers to run outs by the fourth over, before skipper Aparajith (67, 44b, 5x4, 3x6) and Jagadeesan (81, 41b, 4x4, 6x6) put on 129 off 74 balls in spectacular style for the second wicket to put Gillies in a commanding position.
It was Aparajith’s 18th TNPL fifty and the fourth of the season and the fluent batter, who currently holds the Orange Cup for the most runs this season, was involved in a century stand for the third time this edition, as Super Gillies bounced back from its Qualifier-1 defeat to iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans after remaining undefeated in the league phase.
Dragons missed injured spearhead Sandeep Warrier, but his replacement, debutant V Bhuvaneshwar, showed spirit as he bowled the opening and last overs of the innings and finished with figures of 1-35.
It was Jagadeesan’s 22nd TNPL fifty and the second of the season.
Super Gillies lost Aparajith, Vijay Shankar and Jagadeesan in the space of nine balls between the 16th and 18th overs, as fiery Dragons finished strongly.
Brief scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 178/7 in 20 overs (B Aparajith 67, N Jagadeesan 81, R Sasidharan 2/41) lost to Dindigul Dragons 182/6 in 18.4 overs (Vimal Khumar 65, B Indrajith 42)
