TNPL 2023: Murugan Ashwin's diving screamer stuns crowd and commentators alike

The eighth match of the 2023 Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) saw the clash between Dindigul Dragons (DD) and Siechem Madurai Panthers (SMP), on Sunday, June 18 at the NPR College Ground in Dindigul. The match witnessed an extraordinary fielding effort from SMP leg-spinner Murugan Ashwin. 

On the fourth delivery of the fourth over, SMP pacer Gurjapneet Singh bowled a delivery to DD batter S Arun during the second innings. The Dindigul batter struck it hard but mistimed it, causing the ball to fly over cover. Notably, Ashwin ran back and pulled off a diving stunner to grab the ball with both hands. 

Star Sports, the official broadcaster of the TNPL 2023, took to Twitter and shared the video of Ashwin completing the catch and captioned it, "Welcome to Murugan Ashwin Airlines, this is your captain speaking."

Watch the video:

Welcome to Murugan Ashwin Airlines, this is your captain speaking👨‍✈️✈️#NammaOoruNammaGethu #TNPL #DD #SMP #DDvsSMP pic.twitter.com/1BJuQzNleM

— Star Sports Tamil (@StarSportsTamil) June 19, 2023

Baba Indrajiths' terrific knock powers DD beat SMP by seven wickets

Dindigul skipper Ravichandran Ashwin won the toss and invited SMP to bat first. Suboth Bhati was instrumental for Dindigul, as he finished with figures of 3 for 19 in 4 overs. P Saravana Kumar also claimed a three-wicket haul as DD bundled SMP out for a below-par score of 123 in 19.3 overs. 

Apart from Bhati and Kumar, Varun Chakaravarthy picked up two wickets while Ashwin and M Mathivannan made one scalp each. Jagatheesan Kousik top-scored for Madurai with a 34-ball 45, with the help of four boundaries and three maximums.

S Arun's dismissal was the third for DD in the powerplay, as well as Gurjapneet's third wicket of the game. Notably, the three quick wickets put SMP well ahead of the game. However, DD made a comeback to the game, thanks to a match-winning stand between Baba Indrajith and Impact Player Adithya Ganesh (22*). Indrajith, the DD wicketkeeper-batter, hammered a stunning half-century off 35 balls to win it for DD.