Veerans slay Dragons to register first win

Tirunelveli: VB ThiruvallurVeerans got their India Cements Ltd TNPL campaign back on track as they dismissed the Dindigul Dragons for only 83 and then chased down the target with five wickets in hand and 5.1 overs to spare at the India Cements Ltd Ground in Sankarnagar on Friday.

Dindigul Dragons won the toss and elected to bat. The Veerans, however, drew first blood as the hero of the previous match, Subramania Siva, fell for a first-ball duck. The Veerans bowlers kept a tight leash on the Dragons and their scoring rate, conceding only 34 runs in the powerplay besides picking up two crucial wickets.

Rahil Shah was the pick of the bowlers as he snared four wickets, including that of N Jagadeesan. He also claimed M Ashwin, skipper Ashwin Venkataraman and Sunny Kumar Singh. The Veerans bowled an extremely tight line and never let the Dragons cut loose. They had a good day in the field as well as they took some smart catches and even effected two run-outs. Sanjay Yadav and Silambarasan bowled well, too.

The Dragons struggled to build a partnership with the highest being 25 runs for the second wicket. Their innings also had only a total of five boundaries and one six.

Dindigul Dragons took the fight to their opponents and T Natarajan got the Dragons to the perfect start as he picked two wickets in the powerplay. NS Chaturved miscued one to cover while Hari Nishaanth was outdone by pace and chopped one on to his stumps. S Siddharth who had been promoted as the opener for this game though played a solid knock as he kept the scoreboard ticking and hit some big shots.

M Ashwin bowled one ball before he hobbled off the field after picking up injury. Siddharth was finally outfoxed by Wilkins after having scored 37 runs. Baba Aparajith stood and anchored the innings while he kept losing partners at the other end. The Veerans eventually romped home with five overs to spare.

Brief scores:Dindigul Dragons 83 all in 17.5 overs (Anand Venkataraman 19, 31b; Rahil Shah 4/12, R Sialmbarasan 2/18)  lost to VB ThiruvallurVeerans84/5 in 14.5 overs (S Siddharth 37, 27b, 4×4, 2×6, B Aparajith28, 26b, 2×6; T Natarajan 2/12, MS Sanjay 2/20) by5 wickets

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