Chepauk Super Gillies’ Harish is too good for VB Kanchi Veerans
All-rounder smashes fastest fifty of the season and claims four wickets
Natham, Dindigul, August 2: Chepauk Super Gillies’ all-rounder Senathipathy Harish Kumar blasted the fastest fifty of the season and then took four wickets to sink VB Kanchi Veerans in their Sankar Cement Tamil Nadu Twenty20 Premier League match at the NPR College Ground here on Friday.
Riding on Harish’s belligerence, CSG raised their highest total of the season – 191-3 in 20 overs – and then they bowled out VBKV for 130, with four balls to spare, for an emphatic 61-run victory.
It was CSG’s fourth win on the trot, that has almost assured them of a Playoff spot. They top the standings with eight points from five matches with a net run rate of +1.981 with Dindigul Dragons on the second spot with the same number of points from four matches (NRR +1.345).
VBKV remain in contention for the Playoff, despite the defeat, as they are placed third with six points from five matches.
The Veerans chase never took off as CSG fast bowler G Periyasamy (2-34) claimed both openers Deeban Lingesh (1) and Vishal Vaidhya (10) in his first two overs. The ‘slinger’ from Salem shares the top wicket-takers list of the season with teammates left-arm spinner Ramadoss Alexandar, Harish Kumar and Dindigul Dragons left-arm spinner M Silambarasan – all claiming nine wickets each.
Once the VBKV top was prised open, the CSG bowlers continue to claim wickets at regular intervals. Once again it was Harish, in the role of a medium-pacer, who tortured VBKV by claiming four wickets for 15 runs. He narrowly missed out on a five-wicket haul off the last ball of his fourth over when a diving Kaushik Gandhi at mid-off could not latch onto Raghupathi Silambaran’s lofted shot.
Veteran Rajagopal Sathish (44 off 26b, 2 fours, 4 sixes) was the only VBKV to resist the CSG bowlers.
Earlier, Harish Kumar (53 not out off 20 balls, 1 four, 6 sixes) belted sixes at will to propel Chepauk Super Gillies to a strong total after captain Gandhi won the toss and opted to bat first. The 30-year-old Chennai all-rounder’s explosive knock resulted in CSG amassing 75 runs in the last five overs, putting them in a commanding position after being 72-2 at the half-way stage.
Harish began his assault in the 17th over with a hat-trick of sixes off medium-pacer K Deeban Lingesh after Gandhi had begun the over with a four. It netted 24 runs for CSG but there was more to come in the 19th over bowled by fast bowler Gowtham Thamarai Kannan.
Harish smashed two sixes and a four in succession before smacking another six off the last ball, to notch the fastest fifty of the season. It came off 18 balls and was the second fastest fifty in the league behind the 15-ball effort of Tuti Patriots’ Washington Sundar against CSG in 2017.
Thamarai Kannan, who had until then bowled a fine spell (3-0-18-2), ruined his bowling figures by conceding 25 runs in his final over.
Harish Kumar also dominated the unbeaten 76-run partnership off 33 balls for the fourth wicket with Gandhi, where he contributed 53 runs.
Gandhi, who notched his first fifty of the season off the final ball of the innings remained unbeaten on 50 off 48 balls, 4 fours, 1 six.
VBKV have themselves to blame as both Gandhi and Harish were dropped when on 10 and 41 respectively. Gandhi got a reprieve in the sixth over (team score 48-2) when he sliced medium-pacer Rajagopal Sathish and Aparatjith at backward point spilled a straightforward chance. Harish got a ‘life’ when Lingesh at mid-on failed to latch on a miscued hit off Thamarai Kannan with the CSG score 167-3.
VBKV bowlers were also guilty of bowling 13 wides and they have ended up with an unwanted statistic of being the team that has bowled the maximum wides (51) in the season so far.
Gandhi played the sheet anchor’s role to perfection after coming in to bat in the second over following prolific opener KH Gopinath’s (1) early dismissal. He first forged a 37-run alliance with opener V Ganga Sridhar Raju (27 off 20 balls) for the second wicket and then a 69-run partnership off 53 balls with the aggressive Uthirasamy Sasidev (41 off 27 balls, 5 fours, 1 six).
Chepauk Super Gillies play their next match against Siechem Madurai Panthers on Saturday evening here while VB Kanchi Veerans run into Dindigul Dragons next at the same ground on Monday (August 5).
Brief scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 191-3 in 20 overs (V Ganga Sridhar Raju 27, Kaushik Gandhi 50 not out, Uthirasamy Sasidev 41, Senathipathy Harish Kumar 53 not out; Gowtham Thamarai Kannan 2-46) beat VB Kanchi Veerans 130 all out in 19.2 overs (Suresh Lokeshwar 20, Rajagopal Sathish 44; Ganeshan Periyasamy 2-34, Ramadoss Alexandar 1-14, S Harish Kumar 4-15) by 61 runs.
Toss: CSG, elected to bat
Points:Chepauk Super Gillies 2; VB Kanchi Veerans 0
Umpires:Rakesh Raghavan, M Madhu. TV umpire: M Ashwin Kumar. Match referee:Arjan Kripal Singh.
MATCH AWARDS
Sankar Cement Man of the Match:Senathipathy Harish Kumar (CSG)
Sankar Cement Maximum 6s: S Harish Kumar (CSG)
TCM-Nippon Paint Atom Best All-rounder:S Harish Kumar (CSG)
SNJ VSOP Adhiradhi Four:V Ganga Sridhar Raju, Uthirasamy Sasidev (CSG)
BKT Tyres Commander of the Match: Uthirasamy Sasidev (CSG)
Sprite Juicy+ Refreshing Player:Ganeshan Periyasamy (CSG)
TVS Most Valuable Player of the Match:Kaushik Gandhi (CSG)
Sharon Ply Strong Performer of the Match:A Aarif (CSG)
