The defending champions Chepauk Super Gillies captain Kaushik Gandhi was delighted with the way his team batted after they chased down 171 runs against Lyca Kovai Kings to win the 17th match of the ongoing Tamil Nadu Premier League by five wickets at the SNR College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore on Tuesday.
LKK posted a fighting score of 170 runs on the board after Gandhi won the toss and decided to bowl first. LKK’s captain Shahrukh Khan scored a fine unbeaten knock of 51 runs off just 28 balls whereas Abhishek Tanwar added the finishing touches with a little cameo of 12-ball 28.
On the other hand, CSG got off to a poor start as they were reduced to 48-3 after seven overs. However, their wicket-keeper batter N Jagadeesan scored a fine knock of 75 runs while R Sai Kishore added 48 runs to help their team get over the line.
Kaushik Gandhi said after the game in the post-match presentation, “ery happy with the way we batted. A lot of areas where we can improve. Would like to get to our A-game as we approach the business end of the tournament. In a T20 game, no team can be counted out. It’s important to get the job done. (On Jagadeesan) He’s one of the pillars of our team. We are not very keen on any individual per se, we want to improve as a team.”
R Sai Kishore was awarded the Player of the Match for returning with figures of 2-25 in his quota of four overs and scoring 48 runs.
Kishore said after the match, “We needed this win badly. Every game is important and very happy to win this game. Feeling a lot better, batting a lot better this season. I have always put in the hard yards. I need to give a lot of credit to my coach – R Prasanna.”
Meanwhile, Shahrukh Khan believes it was just about a par score but they could not defend it. Khan feels the wicket got better to bat on in the second innings.
Khan said after the loss, “I thought it was just above-par. The wicket got a lot better in the second half. Overall, we have grown as a bowling attack. Jaggi and Sai Kishore batted beautifully. I am quite happy with the bowling performance. The game was in our hand till the 17th over. A couple of overs from myself and Divakar cost us the game. We’ll learn from this loss. Energy of this crowd is amazing, we can’t ask for more.”
Lyca Kovai Kings will next face Idream Tiruppur Tamizhans on Saturday at the SNR College Cricket Ground, Coimbatore while Chepauk Super Gillies will take on Dindigul Dragons on the same day at the same venue.
