TNPL | Dragons canter to a six-wicket win over a listless Grand Cholas

Dindigul Dragons has easily the best bowling attack in the TNPL, led by its potent spin combo of R. Ashwin and Varun Chakaravarthy. Add to it a capable pace battery, and the defending champion can keep any batting unit quiet.

On Wednesday in the Eliminator clash, the Dragons’ bowlers — led by skipper Ashwin’s fine three for 28 — were relentless and ran roughshod over a listless Trichy Grand Cholas batting line-up, restricting it to 140 for nine at the NPR College ground here.

Ashwin then put the cherry on the cake, stroking a brilliant 83 (48b, 11×4, 3×6) that had the whole bouquet of crisply timed shots through the off-side, elegant flicks, lofted drives and reverse-sweeps to power his side to an emphatic six-wicket win. Dragons will now meet Chepauk Super Gillies in Qualifier 2 on Friday.

Electing to field, Ashwin was proactive shuffling his bowlers in the PowerPlay and strangled the openers H.I. Waseem Ahmed and skipper J. Suresh Kumar.

Suresh tried to break free when he took his chance against left-arm spinner R. Sasidaran, hitting him for a six, but skied the next delivery. With Waseem failing to show any intent and meandering at less than run-a-ball, it forced the other batters to up the ante.

And Varun (two for 19) was there to take advantage, striking twice in the 10th over to dismiss J. Kousik and R. Sanjay Yadav. In the next over, Ashwin accounted for the big-hitting R. Rajkumar, and the Cholas’ innings went off the rails.

Jafar Jamal delivered some lusty blows to give respectability to the total, but was waging a lone battle before Ashwin ended his vigil. The former India off-spinner then closed out the game with a fourth consecutive half-century in a TNPL playoff contest.

The scores: Trichy Grand Cholas 140/9 in 20 overs (H.I. Waseem Ahmed 36, Jafar Jamal 33, Periyasamy 2/34, Varun Chakaravarthy 2/19, R. Ashwin 3/28) lost to Dindigul Dragons 143/4 in 16.4 overs (R. Ashwin 83, K. Easwaran 2/22). Toss: Dragons.