TNPL 2021: Match 2, Review: Five-wicket haul from Rajagopal Sathish of CSG goes in vain as rain plays spoilsport

Chennai, July 20: Old hand Rajagopal Sathish (5-10) unleashed a superb display of swing bowling at the MA Chidambaram Stadium here on Tuesday for Chepauk Super Gillies against iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans in their Shriram Capital Tamil Nadu Premier League match.

But it was not enough for CSG as rain played spoilsport and the match was abandoned after 16.2 overs with the Tiruppur Tamizhans at 64-7. Aswin Crist (23 not out off 25 balls) and captain M Mohammed (10 not out off 33) were the only batsmen who defied the CSG attack to give some respectability to their innings.

The match was called off after continuous rain ruled out play for the night. It was the second successive day of no result after the tournament opener between Salem Spartans and Lyca Kovai Kings was also abandoned after 18 overs of play.

The 40-year-old Sathish, who opened the attack for the defending champions, forced the rival batsmen to make errors on a helpful pitch and returned fabulous figures of 4-0-10-5. It was the second best bowling display in TNPL behind teammate Ramadoss Alexandar’s 5-9 against Ruby Trichy Warriors at Tirunelveli in 2019.

The Tamil Nadu veteran was a tad disappointed that his display could fetch just one point for his team. “Firstly I would like to say that not getting full points after doing so well and putting in so much effort takes away the joy of picking up a five wicket haul.

“As far as the spell is concerned, we planned on swinging the ball and executed that well. It swung a lot but batsmen came with the mindset to hit but they couldn’t. I guess it was my day, it’s my first five wicket haul in the TNPL. A great milestone for me,” he said later.

“Hopefully next time even if I don’t perform, the team wins and we get those 2 points,” he added wistfully.

The Tiruppur Tamizhans captain M Mohammed conceded the rain intervention was a big “relief”. “The toss was quite crucial. Our bowlers could have exploited the conditions the same way had we bowled first as that is our strength. Having said that, our batsmen need to apply themselves on these types of wickets. We have to give credit to them, Sati (Sathish) bhai bowled really well.”

“The good thing is that this happened in the first game itself, that too against a strong side like Chepauk. It rained as well so that was sort of a relief. It was a wake up call for us,” he said.

Sathish got into the act with the second ball of the innings after CSG captain Kaushik Gandhi won the toss and put the opposition into bat. Opener S Dinesh (0) was the victim, edging the bowler to wicketkeeper Narayan Jagadeesan. Sathish was in the thick of action in the second over as well when he dived full length to his left in the slips to grab an edge that flew off S Siddharth’s bat off Rahul Dev’s bowling.

In his second over, Sathish struck a double blow claiming left-handed S Aravind (7), caught by a diving Jagadeesan behind the stumps and then trapping Francis Rokins leg before wicket off the next delivery. Sathish went on to add Tushar Raheja (6) and Rajappa Rajkumar (0), to his kitty in the following overs to end up with his best bowling display in the tournament.

Tiruppur Tamizhans’ total after the Powerplay read a sorry 24-5 with Sathish (3-0-4-4) doing most of the damage. To make matters worse the resilient Maan Bafna (6) was run out after a mix-up and they were reeling at 36-7 at that stage before Crist and Mohammed got into the rescue act.

Brief scores: iDream Tiruppur Tamizhans 64-7 in 16.2 overs (Aswin Crist 23 not out ; Rajagopal Sathish 5-10, Rahul Dev 1-13) vs Chepauk Super Gillies. Match abandoned due to rain.