Chepauk Super Gillies opens TNPL campaign against Veerans

Chepauk Super Gillies has retained their core squad and is bolstered with the addition of left-arm seamer R Suthesh and U-19 batsman S Radhakrishnan, who will miss the tournament as he is away in England. 

The team led by Rajagopal Sathish and coached by former India international Hemang Badani is looking to take one game at a time and not think too far ahead. 

“In a tournament like this, a match changes in an over or even in a delivery. So, we will have to look at it match after match and play well against a particular team on the given day. 

If you see the opening game, Dindigul looked like they will win, but when R Vivek got out, Patriots grabbed the opportunity and ran away with the game,” Badani said. Skipper Sathish said it wouldn’t be an easy outing for his team against Thiruvallur Veerans. 

“They (Thiruvallur) did well last year. They also have new additions and TNPL provides an opportunity for cricketers to perform in front of crowds, under lights with media coverage. 

Last year, players would have experienced the pressure and would have spoken to analysts about their game plan etc. So, all teams will provide tough fight and it all boils down to which team holds their nerve,” he explained. 

Sathish said the team has moved on from the disappointing defeat in the final last year. “We were hurt by the loss in the final. Yes, winning the title is the ultimate goal, but we aren’t thinking about that yet. It is a step by step process. We aren’t thinking too much ahead,” he noted. Badani said he expects a high scoring contest unlike what the matches produced here last year. 

“The ground looks better when compared to last year and the pitch also looks like it will host high scoring games. Last year, all the games were comparatively low scoring ones and pitch assisted slower bowlers. But this time we are expecting something different,” he said. 

Thiruvallur Veerans captain Baba Aparajith said he expects a tough and a close opener. “It will be a good match. Chepauk is a good team who made it to the final last year. 

We have prepared well and played some good cricket last year. We will look to be better by at least 10 to 15 per cent. This year our first aim is to qualify for the playoffs,” he explained.