Albert TUTI Patriots defeated Cheapauk Super Gillies by 122 runs to win the inaugural season of Tamil Nadu Premiere League (TNPL). The final was played at iconic M A Chidambaram stadium, Chennai.
The Patriots batted first and put up a big score of 215/2. Kaushik Gandhi (59), Abhinav Mukund (82 not out) and Dinesh Karthik (55) set up the score over 200. In reply, Super Gillies were shot out for a paltry score of 93.
Openers Gandhi and Mukund attacked from the beginning and never let Super Gillies bowler settle. The opening partnership has been productive right throughout the season and it was the fourth opening stand by the openers.
The pair put on the fourth century opening partnership of the tournament – scoring 132 runs of 84 balls.
Gandhi scored his third fifty of the tournament and finished as the second-highest run-getter with a tally of 366.
Super Gillies were bamboozled by Moorthi (4 for 11) and at one stage he had figures of 0/4.
TNPL has been a huge success. It created a big buzz in Tamil Nadu with Ravichandran Ashwin, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik and Laxmipati Balaji participating and passing their knowledge to the upcoming and budding cricketers.
The T20 format is the perfect way to mobilise and spread the game to the remote areas of TN. N Srinivasan, president of TNCA delivered a spectacular tournament and should be appreciated. The matches were broadcasted on a popular sports channel and it created a buzz amongst masses.
Brief scores: Albert TUTI Patriots 215/2 in 20 overs (Abhinav Mukund 82 not out, 52b, 12×4, 1×6, Kaushik Gandhi 59, 43b, 6×4, 2×6, Dinesh Karthik 55, 26b, 5×4,4×6; Sai Kishore 1/35) beat Chepauk Super Gillies 93 all out in 18.5 overs (Vasanth Saravanan 30, 33b, 4×4; Ganesh Moorthi 4/11, L Balaji 2/8) by 122 runs