That's it from this match. Do catch us for the live updates of the next TNPL match between Dindigul Dragons vs Jones Tuti Patriots at the NPR college ground in Natham, Dindigul. Till then, this is Vignesh Ananthasunbramanian signing off
Ruby Trichy Warriors' unbeaten start in the 2018 TNPL comes to an end as they were handed an eight-wicket loss by Lyca Kovai Kings at the NPR college grounds in Natham, Dindigul.
Second wicket down for Kovai! Antony Dhas tried to pull a short delivery and gets a faintest of edges. Keeper Mani Bharathy colelcts it cleanly to send the batsman back to the pavilion.
W Antony Dhas c Mani Bharathy b D Tamil Kumaran 7 (9) LKK 113/2 after 13 overs
Too little, too late for Trichy? D Tamil Kumaran gets the wicket of Shahrukh Khan and gives him a send-off before the batsmen gave it back to the bowler. Skipper Abhinav Mukund had to intervene to settle things between both the batsmen.
M Shahrukh Khan c Sonu Yadav b Tamil Kumaran 67 (40)
While Shahrukh is going all guns blazing, Abhinav is perfectly playing the second fiddle to the right-hander. He is in some kind of form in the tournament. As we speak, just 13 runs were scored off the last two overs.
Perfect end to the powerplay for the Kovai Kings as Shahrukh Khan does what he does best and sends a couple of balls to the ropes. He is looking ominous here and the Warriors will do well to get rid of him quickly.
Shahrukh shows his class yet again as he cuts a delivery from MS Sanjay through the point region for a boundary. How good has he been so far! Eight runs came off the fourth over bowled.
Abhinav gets the third over underway with a four over the bowler's head before Vignesh staged a good comeback by conceding just three off the next five balls.
M Shahrukh Khan hit two boundaries, one through the third man and then one through the covers, and helps his team take 14 runs off the second over bowled by C Ganapathy.
Trichy were never in the game, especially after losing two wickets off two balls to S Manigandan. S Suresh Kumar and Sonu Yadav tried their best to take their team to a total in excess of 120.
A run out and eight runs came off the penultimate over bowled by MP Rajesh. S Suresh Kumar, batting on 35 off 32, will be facing the first ball off the last over.
Another mix-up. This time, MS Sanjay falls short of the batting crease and to make things worse, Suresh Kumar will be at the non-striker's end. There was two runs for taking but a direct throw from Antony Dhas found Sanjay short of the crease.
S Suresh Kumar is giving his best as he is keeping Trichy in the game with some lusty blows. Debutant S manigandan finishes his spell with figures of 4-0-18-2. Trichy will look to score at least 30 runs in the last three overs.
K Vignesh strikes! Lakshmi Narayanan tried to pull a length delivery over the fine-leg fielder but ended up finding MP Rajesh just inches inside the boundary rope.
M Lakshmi Narayanan c MP Rajesh b K Vignesh 11 (9)
MP Rajesh maintains the pressure the other bowlers had applied on Trichy as he gave away just six runs in his first over and took the wicket of Sonu Yadav.
Leggie MP Rajesh comes into the attack and strikes in the first over. After hitting a boundary earlier in the over, Sonu Yadav tried to cut a ball and ended up offering V Ashwin an easy catch at backward point.
Sonu Yadav c Ashwin Venkataraman b MP Rajesh 21 (20)
Debutant S Manigandan comes on to bowl and starts off in the best possible way as he dismisses S Aravind off his second delivery caught by M Shahrukh Khan at deep mid-wicket.
T Natarajan comes into the attack and almost had a wicket off his first ball but Mani Bharathy was dropped by MP Rajesh at mid-wicket. Later, skipper Abhinav Mukund made up for that by running K Bharath Shankar out. A boundary off the last ball makes it six off the over.
Brilliant piece of fielding from Abhinav Mukund. Bharath Shankar tried to steal a single by hitting the ball to Abhinav Mukund at covers but Abhinav collected the ball and rolled it at the stumps and found Bharath short of the crease.
K Vignesh bowls his third over and yet again, he concedes a boundary. And again, he came back brilliantly by conceding four more runs in the remaining five balls and made it eight runs off the over.
S Ajith Ram strikes! He takes the all-important wicket of B Indrajith by trapping him in front of the wickets. But, the replays are suggesting that the ball might be going down the leg side.
K Vignesh continues and starts his over with a boundary off the first ball. But, he came back brilliantly by conceding just off the next five balls to make it six off the over.
Seven runs came off the first over bowled by K Vignesh, which is the most he conceded in his first over in the tournament so far, something that speaks volumes about the way he started the innings for Kovai. Out of the seven runs, four came off a bye. Brilliant start by the pacer again.
Ruby Trichy Warriors Playing XI: Bharath Sankar K , Indrajith B, Aravind S, Suresh Kumar S, Ganapathi Chandrasekar, Sonu Yadav R, Mani Bharathy, Lakshminarayanan M, Tamil Kumaran D, Sanjay M S, Vignesh K
Lyca Kovai Kings Playing XI: Shahrukh Khan, Abhinav Mukund, Ashwin Venkataraman, Rohith R, Akkil Srinaath, Antony Dhas, M P Rajesh, Ajith Ram, Vignesh K, Natarajan T, Manigandan S
Barring the super over thriller that they won, LYCA Kovai Kings don't have another win to their name this season whereas Ruby Trichy Warriors are the only team in TNPL 2018 to be unbeaten so far. Can Trichy make it three in a row and beat Kovai? Before we can answer that, the all important toss is just minutes away.
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