Watch: ’33-run over with five sixes!!’ scintillating 19th over in the TNPL

The Qualifier 2 game of the Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) on Monday (July 11) witnessed a remarkable finish, where Nellai Royal Kings reached home against Dindigul Dragons after smashing a whopping 33 runs in the penultimate over of their chase. 

The Kings, who were pushed to the brink with another 37 runs required off the last two overs, returned to the fore like wounded tigers and found a pair of incredible heroes to ultimately propel past the finish line. They had the middle-order duo of Ajitesh Guruswamy and Rithik Easwaran pulling off an unbelievable 19th over. 

At the receiving end was the hapless Dindigul right-arm seamer G Kishoor as he kept missing the mark on his each of his attempted yorkers and dished out some of the most fodder for batters absolutely intent on six-hitting. 

The first of the five that were hit arrived off a slow off-cutter, but the rest were prime examples of why yorker-dependency is a big risk for medium-pacers. Kishoor kept missing the mark, presented his balls near the arc and got smashed out of the park. 

33-run over!! Amazing finish to TNPL Qualifier 

Easwaran began the procession of sixes, hitting the slow off-cutter from Kishore down the ground for maximum. The left-hander had to extract a lot of power behind his stroke but in the end managed to belt it over the boundary ropes even as the long-off jumped in anticipation of a catch. 

The next delivery was the yorker that went wrong as the left-hand batter just stood tall on the ball and unleashed his beautiful downswing to find the perfect connection through the long-on region. It was this shot that perhaps inspired the next. 

33-RUN OVER WITH 5 SIXES! 🤯

Insane hitting by Easwaran 🔥 and Ajitesh 💥#TNPLonFanCode pic.twitter.com/GSc41DpGk7

— FanCode (@FanCode) July 10, 2023

This time Kishoor went over-the-wicket and tried to make Easwaran hit against the line towards the off-side. But couldn’t escape the onslaught, with the Nellai batter screaming the ball over the wide long-off region for another maximum. 

At that point, the pressure had shifted completely and after rotating the strike, Easwaran allowed the more settled Guruswamy to take advantage of it. The next ball, then, was dispatched over long-on for the flattest of most sixes as the right-hander didn’t find the height but great connection to elevate this one past the ropes. 

Facing the heat, Kishoor ended up bowling a no-ball thereafter, off which Guruswamy also took a single. Playing the free-hit now, Easwaran got into his act yet again, and scooped another attempted yorker from the seamer for a six behind squad, tilting the scales decisively in his team’s favour ahead of the 20th over.