SK Player of the day: Lakshmipathy Balaji for his remarkable spell in TNPL

Showing that age was no barrier in a format designed for big hitting and mystery bowling, former Indian seamer Lakshmipathy Balaji produced an impressive spell for Albert TUTI Patriots to rip apart the top-order of VB Thiruvallur Veerans in a Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) encounter at NPR College Ground (Dindigul) on Wednesday.

Relying on maintaining a probing channel and forcing the error, Balaji started off with a tidy opening over which cost just two runs. Imparting his extensive knowledge to the promising Aswin Crist, the duo operated in tandem to sustain the pressure from both ends.

With only 8 runs coming from the first couple of overs, the screws began to tighten and NS Chaturved could only lift a length ball to mid-off. In walked the 22-year old skipper Baba Aparajith.

Aside from being the tournament's leading run-scorer, his belligerent stroke-play had been one of the major talking points. Realizing the importance of his wicket, Balaji attempted to deny him any semblance of width.

After a wayward delivery which was whipped off the pads, Aparajith looked to smash one right past the bowler. Even though Balaji could not hold on, he parried it to Washington Sundar who completed the rebound.

The veteran struck another blow by dismissing R Kavin off the very next ball. Targeting the stumps with his stifling line, he deceived the wicket-keeper batsman and made him play inside it.

From his first three overs, Balaji conceded just 12 runs and managed to prise out three wickets. As expected, skipper Abhinav Mukund did not finish his spell and preferred to hold him back for the death.

Despite being reduced to 67/5, Thiruvallur rode on opener Hari Nishanth’s fighting half-century to move past three figures in the 15^th over. When the stage was set for an end overs blitz to prop up the total, Mukund responded by bringing back his senior most bowler.

Balaji acknowledged that the situation demanded something different and turned to his variations. Mixing up the slower deliveries with those aimed much fuller, he coerced Abhishek Tanwar to loft one into midwicket’s hands.

When Nishanth latched on to an opportunity to find the boundary, the right-arm medium pacer displayed his experience by dragging the length back a bit and induced a mistimed hoick from the well-set batsman to finish with figures of 4-0-18-5.

Eventually, Veerans ended their innings at 141/9. Since the required rate was pretty comfortable, Patriots opening batsmen Kaushik Gandhi and Washington Sundar built a solid partnership by adopting contrasting approaches.

Although they found themselves at a tricky position during the 14^th over, TUTI Patriots romped home with six wickets and three balls to spare courtesy of Mukund’s unbeaten 47. Deservedly, Balaji received the Player of the Match award for his spectacular spell which kept their qualification hopes alive.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the game, Aswin Crist felt, “This wicket was favorable to fast bowlers. In previous matches, we started with spinners and since the pitch here worked well for the quicks, we opened with fast bowlers today.”