Sai Kishore masterfully defended 13 runs in the final over as Chepauk Super Gillies won the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2021 for the second time in a row. The Trichy Warriors could only manage 175 in pursuit of 184.
It was one of the rare occasions in the tournament when the chasing team failed to win the game. Put into bat, Kaushik Gandhi and N. Jagadeesan got the Super Gillies off a terrific start. They added 58 for the opening stand before Gandhi got out to the last ball of the Powerplay.
S. Radhakrishnan, coming on the back of two successive fifties in Playoffs, could not live up to the occasion this time. He played over 10 balls and made 3 runs. Jagadeesan went on to play a blinder, notching half-century in the 12th over, and then upping the tempo.
He finally got out on 90 in the 18th over. Sonu Yadav (17*) and Harish Kumar (13) added the finishing touch to propel the Super Gillies to 183/6 in 20 overs.
Chasing 184 was never going to be easy for the Trichy Warriors on a slow, sticky surface. But their openers got them off a flier, adding 40 in just over 3 overs Santosh Shiv fell to Sonu Yadav.
Amit Sathvik smashed five sixes in his 16-ball 36 before becoming Yadav’s second victim. Nidhish Rajagopal (26), the leading run-scorer of the team, opened his account with a boundary on the first ball. He started well but got out when the team needed him to carry on with the assault.
The rest of the batters got the starts but none were able to last longer. At one stage they were 108/6 in the 14th over. Saravan Kumar (45 off 25) then led the fightback, hitting three sixes and as many fours, but could not take the team across the finishing line.
The decision to include Sai Kishore worked in the Super Gillies’ favour, as the spinner conceded just five runs.
Brief scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 183/6 in 20 overs (N. Jagadeesan 90; Rahil Shah 2-31) beat Ruby Trichy Warriors 175/7 in 20 overs (Saravan Kumar 45*; Sonu Yadav 2-32) by 8 runs. Player of the Match: N Jagadeesan.
Chepauk Super Gillies won TNPL 2021. Player of the Tournament: Hari Nishanth.