Dindigul Dragons surged to their third consecutive victory in the 2018 Sankar Cement-TNPL as they overcame VB Kanchi Veerans by seven wickets at the NPR College ground in Natham (Dindigul) on Sunday, July 22.
Batting first, the start was disastrous for the youthful Kanchi Veerans with their opener K Vishal Vaidhya run out on the first ball of the innings via a direct-throw from M Silambarasan. They lost their captain Baba Aparajith in the third over and were soon down to 27/4 by the end of Powerplay.
Mokit Hariharan 77 n.o. (50b,5×4,5×6) and Francis Rokins 64 n.o. (41b,3×4,5×6) stood resolutely and later displayed their batting might in a sensational unbeaten stand of 139 runs from 85 balls that rocketed the team to a total to 166/4.
The pair plundered 65 from the last four overs, 26 of them coming in the last over.
Dindigul Dragons opener C Hari Nishaanth began the chase with a strokefilled 50 (33b,6×4,3×6). The other opener Narayan Jagadeesan, leading the side in the absence of Ravichandran Ashwin, played a patient knock of 41 (38b, 1×4, 2×6).
Dragons needed 40 to win from 26 balls when their captain was dismissed. NS Chaturved, once again, rose to the occasion with an unbeaten 41 (17b,3×4,3×6) to secure the third consecutive win for the Dindigul team.
VB Kanchi Veerans have lost all three matches played so far.
Brief scores:
VB Kanchi Veerans 166/4 in 20 overs (Mokit Hariharan 77 n.o., Francis Rokins 64 n.o., Yazh Arun Mozhi 2-24) lost to Dindigul Dragons 171/3 in 19.1 overs (Hari Nishaanth 50, N Jagadeesan 41, NS Chaturved 41 n.o., A. Srinivas 1-23).
AWARDS:
‘Sankar Cement’ Maximum Sixes Award: Mokit Hariharan/Francis Rokins (VB Kanchi Veerans)
‘Krishna Mines Super White Super Fours’ Award: Hari Nishaanth (Dindigul Dragons)
‘Equitas Funtastic’ Player of the Match: Francis Rokins (VB Kanchi Veerans)
‘Sprite Most Refreshing Player’ Award: Hari Nishaanth (Dindigul Dragons)
‘Sankar Cement Man of the Match’ Award: NS Chaturved (Dindigul Dragons)
‘Most number of DOT BALL bowled in the match’ Award: M.Mohammed (Dindigul Dragons)
