Chepauk Super Gillies beat Albert Tuti Patriots to become TNPL 2017 champions

On Sunday, before a home crowd in excess of 20000 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, CSG ended its four-match jinx against Tuti Patriots in TNPL in the last one year and scripted a six-wicket win with captain Rajagopal Sathish and veteran Vasanth Saravanan finishing the match in style with a flurry of sixes.

Sathish hit two sixes in his 23 not out and Vasanth Saravanan hit two sixes off Washington Sundar in the 19th over in his 23 not out off 10 balls as Chepauk side won with six balls to spare.

After Tuti made 143 for eight, the Super Gillies started its chase well and scored 41 for no loss in the first six overs as KH Gopinath stroked the ball well. But his partner Thalaivan had an off day and threw his wicket away after making 16 off 31 balls. Tuti applied the brakes around this time as Akash Sumra and Aushok Srinivas conceded only11 runs in four overs.

Gopinath kept his cool after Karthik got out caught in the deep off Washington Sundar hitting a six. But his exit for 50 off 38 balls brought Tuti back into the match.

CSG promoted Antony Dhas to No 4 but that did not work. However, Sathish came and set things right for CSG.

Earlier, Chepauk Super Gillies, electing to field, did well to restrict Tuti to 143 for eight on 20 overs thanks to their three left-arm spinners backed by excellent ground fielding. CSG had a chance to dismiss danger man Washington Sundar in the first over itself but Antony Dhas at long on misjudged a catch off the bowling of R Sathish.

However, that did not prove costly as Washington (14) fell to Sathish, whose off-cutter foxed the left-handed batsman who could only play an intended lofted drive to mid-on where Sai Kishore took a low catch. From there on, Chepauk Super Gillies was a changed side as left-arm spinners Sai Kishore, Alexander and Arun Kumar bowled a good line and contained the batsmen.

Kaushik Gandhi hit a sweetlytimed four off Alexander and edged a catch to Karthik behind the stumps. Though Abhinav Mukund and captain Dinesh Karthik looked like repairing the damage with a 43-run stand in 6.1 overs, Tuti lacked the firepower to post a big total without Washington’s contribution.

Mukund’s wicket in the 14th over of the innings opened the door for the CSG bowlers. The left-handed Indian opener, after making 41 off 38 balls, tried to go over the top off Arun Kumar and skied a catch tyo wide mid- on where Sathish took a smart catch.

When Arunkumar sent back Dinesh Karthik (17 off 16 balls), who struggled against the leftarm spinners in general in this tournament, the Super Gillies had got an upper hand for the first time in three meetings against Tuti in this year’s TNPL, Sai Kishore coming back for his third spell for his last over struck two crucial blows in the 16th over dismissed Anand and the big-hitting Nathan off successive deliveries. Wicketkeeper Karthik came up with two run outs in the last over with direct hits as Tuti was restricted to less than 150 for the first time in eight innings this year.