Dindigul Dragons registered a comprehensive 14-run victory (VJD method) against Madurai Super Giants in their first match of the India Cements TN Premier League at the NPR College Ground at Natham on Saturday.
Jagadeesan Narayan’s superb 71 helped the home team consolidate and finish on a competitive total of 142 for 9. Their bowlers did a superb job later on as they clinched a win in the final over. Earlier, Dindigul, who won the toss and opted to bat, got off to a controlled start.
Muruganantham (4 for 22), the most successful bowler of the evening, gave the early breakthrough when he dismissed Ganga Sridhar Raju (12). Skipper Subramania Siva (19) accelerated right from the first ball but was soon trapped leg-before by Vignesh Ganapathi.
Wilkins Victor was the next wicket, thanks to a brilliant catch near the deep square-leg boundary by M.Raja off S Thiyagarajan. Jagadeesan, on the other hand, was unfazed by the fall of wickets and hit crisp shots all around the ground.
He also cleared the gaps with ease and was given a life-line on 30 when Shijit Chandran couldn’t cling onto a catch at covers. After a brief rain interruption, which reduced the total number of overs to 18 for both teams, Jagadeesan completed his half-century in 42 deliveries.
He was particularly harsh on Singamuthu Thiyagaran - scoring 17 runs off him in the 15th over that included a boundary and two huge sixes. Thereafter, a lower order collapse ensued that the Dragons lost six wickets for 15 runs.
Muruganandham picked up two wickets in an over and DT Chandrasekhar later dismissed Jagadeesan. Dindigul ended up with 142 for 9 in 18 overs and the target was revised to 146 by the VJD method.
Madurai lost steam after a flying start which yielded 29 runs in the first three overs. Sanjay Srinath (2 for 29) sent back openers Arun Karthik (18) and G. Vignesh (10) to put Madurai on sticky wicket.
Srinath and Guru Kedarnath (2 for 17) spun a web against Madurai who lost wickets as their batsmen went for lofted shots.
Suresh Kumar (21), who looked set for a big one, was dismissed by Kedarnath after the former hit it straight to R Vivek at long-off. Shijit Chandran was also dismissed in similar fashion, off the same bowler. Madurai couldn’t really get going as the Dindigul bowlers stemmed the run-flow.
Though S Thiyagaran (30) tried his level best and took the game to the final over, still it was very late as Madurai could only finishing on 131 for 7.
Brief scores: Dindigul Dragons 142/9 in 18 overs (N Jagadeesan 71, 50b, 8x4, 3x6, Muruganantham 4/22, DT Chandrasekar 1/12) beat Madurai Super Giants 131/7 in overs (S Thiyagaran 37, 20b, 3x4, 2x6, Suresh Kumar 21, 16b, 1x4, 1x6 Sanjay Srinath 2/29 Guru Kedarnath 2/19) by 14 runs.
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