Dinesh Karthik and bowlers sizzle as Patriots beat Gillies

With club cricket back at the Chepauk, over 14,000 people enjoyed the proceedings on the first day straining their vocal cords to the glut.

Chasing 165 to win, the Gillies fell from 62/2 to 63/6, losing four wickets for one run, and a recovery from the middle-order collapse was near impossible. The Super Gillies could only manage 119 in 19.4 overs in the end.

The Gillies started on a cautious note with opener KH Gopinath and Yo Mahesh Kumar negotiating the first over for three runs. The fireworks from the Chepauk camp started in the second over when Gopinath sent Aswin Crist for two consecutive boundaries in the second over to bring the crowd on their feet.

Gopinath’s fight was short-lived when he got an inside edge trying to slog sweep Ganesh Moorthi. The first wicket brought X Thalaivan Sargunam in and with the company Mahesh, the duo went about building a solid platform.

Thalaivan showed glimpses of form with terrific wrist work when clipped Balaji to the square-leg boundary and then sent Aushik Srinivas for four with a brilliant cut off the back-foot to the cover point region.

The Tirunelveli-born batsman then stepped out to Moorthi and sent the ball soaring into the crowd as the Chepauk crowd went ballistic.

Srinivas halted the juggernaut when he had Mahesh misjudging the line and the ball crashed into the timber in a jiffy. The wicket didn’t deter Thalaivan as he kept finding the boundaries at will with a stupendous display of shots.

Tuti skipper Dinesh Karthik introduced Sumra in the ninth over and the change of bowling proved to be a masterstroke. The bowler induced Thalaivan to play early and get the leading edge as Washington Sundar plucked an excellent low catch at short cover. He then sent U Sasidev the next ball with a straightish delivery that went through the gate.

In the next over, Balaji made a mockery of the Chepauk’s middle order when he Sathish and B Rahul back to the hut in successive deliveries as Chepauk Super Gillies never recovered from the blows.

S Vasanth Saravanan and W Anthony Dhas tried their best to help Chepauk crawl out of the hole with a 24-run partnership for the seventh wicket in a little over run-a-ball but once Dhas was out in the 15th over trying to play across the line to Srinivas, the curtains came down on Chepauk’s hopes.

Earlier, Chepauk Super Gillies’ skipper Sathish started the proceedings from the Pavilion end to Sundar. Tuti Patriots started on an explosive note as Sundar and M Kaushik Gandhi made their intentions clear with some powerful hitting. The Patriots duo were harsh on Tamil Kumaran milking the right-arm medium pacer for 16 runs, that included two boundaries and one six, as the patriots raced to 23 in two overs.

It was the skipper who got the breakthrough in the fifth over when he trapped Gandhi for 20. Sundar continued the onslaught at the other end as he found the boundary twice off Yo Mahesh Kumar in the sixth over. At the end of the power play, Patriots had raced to a healthy 47 losing one wicket.

It was Sathish who struck again in the seventh over when he got the big wicket of Sundar. The batsman, foxed by a slower one, could only find his pull shot land safely in the hands of Mahesh at deep square leg.

The onus was on the Patriots skipper Karthik, who walked in at No. 3 earlier, to guide his team to a competitive score. The former India wicket-keeper flexed his muscles off Anthony Dhas when he lofted the ball behind the keeper off a shorter one to the boundary. But when V Maaruthi Raghav perished to Dhas in the 11th over at the score reading 75, Patriots hadn’t utilised their explosive start like they would have wanted to.

U Sushil then joined Karthik in the middle and both went on rebuilding the innings. With Satish opting for a defensive field, singles and doubles were not at a premium as the batsmen rotated the strike with ease. Karthik got into his elements when he sent one soaring over the deep fine leg fence with a monstrous strike off Dhas while Sushil danced down the track off Sai Kishore to send the ball into the stands at the long-on fence.

The duo added 47 runs in a little more than six overs but Sushil perished in an attempt to accelerate by going for a slog across the line. He could only find CSG’s skipper at the long-on boundary off Mahesh in the 18th over. By then, Suhsil had done his part with 25 off 19 balls.

The much needed fireworks for the crowd was provided by Karthik when he slammed 17 runs in the penultimate over bowled by Tamil Kumaran. He first sent a full length ball sailing over the bowler’s head over six and got his fifty-three balls later with a thunderous strike that landed in the crowd wide of mid-wicket area.

The last three overs produced 44 runs as Karthik was the stand-out performer with 67 runs in 49 balls as Tuti Patriots finished at 164 for the loss of five wickets.