Tuti Patriots deserved to win, says CSG coach Hemang Badani

After running riot with the bat, thanks to Abhinav Mukund, Kaushik Gandhi and Dinesh Karthik, Patriots sealed the game in the first over when their spinner G Moorthi took a hat-trick. 

Chepauk Super Gillies coach Hemang Badani said the best team won the game and said the pitch was the best in the league. “It was a beautiful track - the best of the tournament, so far. But then we (Gillies) were slow and the fact that we lost four wickets in the first over made it all the more difficult. But then Patriots bought their ‘A’ game to fore and deserved to win,” Badani said. 

The coach said Chepauk Super Gillies couldn’t execute their plans properly. “Chasing 215 was a huge task, and when we were 0 for 4 – it wasn’t the best position. They turned it on right from the word go whereas our side faltered right from over one. Our bowling, batting, everything flopped. The plans weren’t executed, but kudos to Patriots, they played superbly. Mukund, Gandhi and Karthik made all the difference,” Badani added. 

Taking about the hat-trick, Super Gillies coach said the game was lost at that point. “It was a tough ask, after being at 0 for 4, but we asked the remaining batsmen to take the game along, score 70-odd till the 10th over. It was a true wicket, the batsmen could play through the line, but at that point we lost the match,” he said. 

Badani said there were a lot of positives to take from the league. “It is just a game, we played good cricket prior to the final, and won five games. Also, the fact that we topped the table is another positive. Unfortunately, our worst performance came in the final. L Balaji, Karthik and the others used their experience to good effect. And most of our players were new to T20s. Even the fatigue of playing back-toback games may have taken its toll, but ultimately they played better than us, we played badly,” he added.