TNPL 2017, Final Review: Chepauk break the duck, defeat TuTi to win maiden title

KH Gopinath and R Sathish helped Chepauk Super Gillies chase down a modest but tricky target of 144 and win the India Cements Ltd TNPL crown with a six-wicket victory over Season 1 champions Albert TuTi Patriots at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday. Having never beaten the Patriots in four previous outings prior to this one, Chepauk stunned everyone by finally getting the better of their more fancied rivals.

It wasn’t easy for Chepauk as they got off to a cautious start, punishing only the loose balls. In spite of being 41 for no loss after the powerplay, Chepauk lost the momentum when Akash Sumra bowled a maiden over. With the required run-rate rising, Thalaivan Sargunam went for the big one only to hit it straight to Kaushik Gandhi at point, off Aushik Srinivas (1 for 17). In the next four overs, Chepauk could add just 11 runs for the loss of a wicket and they required 92 off the last 10. After a gap of 33 deliveries, KH  Gopinath managed to hit one to the fence as Karthik finished the over with a six. But Washington Sundar struck in the very next over, removing Karthik and Antony Dhas followed him soon, hitting one to Aushik at deep mid-wicket, off Athisayaraj Davidson.

Gopinath (50) got to this half-century keeping Chepauk in the hunt as his team required 52 runs in the last five overs. Athisayaraj (2 for 30) removed the settled Gopinath and now Chepauk had two new batsmen in, still requiring more than 10 runs per over. A six each from skipper R Sathish and Vasanth Saravanan in the same over shifted the momentum slightly in favour Chepauk. The duo carried on as the equation boiled down to 22 runs from two overs. There was no 20th over required as Sathish and Saravanan finished in the 19th over, which went for 23 runs including two sixes and a boundary. All the boundaries were hit by Saravanan. Sundar was at the receiving end of the assault. The match-winning partnership yielded 52 runs off just 22 balls.

Opting to bat first, luck favoured TuTi early when Sundar was dropped by Antony Dhas at long on, off Sai Kishore. The drop didn’t prove too costly as Sathish struck in the fourth over as he sent back the top run-getter of the tournament, after Sai Kishore didn’t make a mistake at mid-on. There was then a 42-minute rain interruption immediately after which Kaushik Gandhi was caught by the Chepauk keeper off R Alexander as Chepauk crawled back slowly into the game. It was then up to the experienced Abhinav Mukund (41) and Dinesh Karthik to pile on the runs, but the left arm spin trio of Arun Kumar (2 for 29), Alexander and Sai Kishore were successful in stemming the run flow.

With runs getting difficult to come by, Arun Kumar struck twice in two overs removing both the star batsmen and TuTi batting found themselves in a sticky situation for the first ever time in the tournament. SP Nathan tried to counter attack, but Sai Kishore (2 for 25) sent back Nathan and Anand Subramanian in consecutive deliveries as TuTi were truly in all sorts of trouble at 120 for 6. The lower middle order struggled as wickets kept tumbling as the scoring rate went down.

Regular breakthroughs meant that TuTi couldn’t get going as they managed to score only 23 runs in the last four overs, losing four wickets in the process. TuTi finished with 143 for 8, their lowest ever total, batting first in this season.

Brief scores:

Albert TuTi Patriots 143 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhinav Mukund 41 (38b, 4×4); Sai Kishore 2/25; Arun Kumar 2/29)

Chepauk Super Gillies 145 for 4 in 19 overs (KH Gopinath 50* (38b, 2×4, 3×6); Athisayaraj Davidson 2/30, Aushik Srinivas 1/17)

Chepauk Super Gillies won by six wickets.