Raju and Gopinath set up Super Gillies’ victory

The team posts its second straight win as Karaikudi Kaalai stumbles in the chase

Openers Ganga Sridhar Raju (54, 6×4, 2×6) and K.H. Gopinath (55, 40b, 4×4, 2×6) forged a solid 108-run stand for the first wicket as Chepauk Super Gillies registered a 54-run win over iDream Karaikudi Kaalai in the Sankar Cement-TNPL at the ICL grounds here on Friday.

Pacer Sunil Sam bowled a good first over for Kaalai but, from there, it was all downhill.

Dropped twice

Gopinath, who was dropped twice (0 & 23) by M. Shajahan and substitute Kishan Kumar, in the company of Raju showed no mercy on both the pacemen and spinners.

They battered the ball to all parts of the ground to help the team post 49 in the PowerPlay overs.

Incidentally, this was the best first six overs for Gillies this season.

In fact, everything turned out to be positive for the team, and the other way round for Kaalai. The bowlers were generous, gifting away runs and quite a few through extras.

The fielders made it worse, showing butter fingers right from the start.

And that gave more room for Gillies’ openers to further up the scoring rate.

They firmly hit down the ground and over the fence time and again to hoist the century partnership in just 65 balls.

After adding eight more to the score, Raju stepped out for the big one against left-arm spinner Maan K. Bafna, misread the line and was stumped by ’keeper Kavin.

Three overs later, Gopinath fell, trying to loft medium pacer R. Rajkumar. Aaditya ran quite a distance from mid-on to take a stunner.

Kaushik Gandhi (32, 21b, 4×4, 1×6) chipped in with his bit but Sam and spinner Mohan Prasath struck at regular intervals to pull Gillies back to 175 for eight.

It was rather a heavy target for Kaalai as Gillies had a brilliant bowling attack with the likes of slinger G. Periyasamy and last match hero, left-arm spinner R. Alexandar.

And it reflected quite early, with the former sending openers V. Aaditya and S. Anirudha back to the hut in quick time.

Two smart run-outs

Two smart run-outs in the PowerPlay overs sadded to Kaalai’s agony.

Shajahan took the aerial route but soon departed and, with the run-rate climbing higher after every over, it was an arduous task from there.

The scores: Chepauk Super Gillies 175 for eight in 20 overs (Ganga Sridhar Raju 54, K.H. Gopinath 55, Kaushik Gandhi 32, Sunil Sam two for 25, R. Rajkumar two for 39, Mohan Prasath two for 33) bt iDeam Karaikudi Kaalai 121 for eight in 20 overs (M. Shajahan 27, G. Periyaswamy two for nine).

Saturday’s matches: Tuti Patriots vs Dindigul Dragons (3.15 p.m.); Ruby Trichy Warriors vs Lyca Kovai Kings (7.15 p.m.).

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