The Siechem Madurai Panthers beat the Nellai Royal Kings by 10 runs.
Not every day do you lose a match, needing 11 runs off 12 deliveries with four wickets in hand. The Nellai Royal Kings have just etched their name into an unwanted side of the Tamil Nadu Premier League’s (TNPL) history books. Chasing a target of 169 runs, the Royal Kings were well on track with just 11 runs needed in the last two overs. But that’s when things went haywire. As a result, the chasers gifted two crucial points to the Siechem Madurai Panthers.
Being put into bat, the Panthers scored 168/9, a total which was on par. Balchander Anirudh and Atheeq Ur Rahman shone with the bat, scoring a brisk 48 and 36, respectively. The Royal Kings rode on captain Arun Karthik’s fiery 67 and were well on the course of adding two points to their name. That’s when the Panthers snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. It took just five deliveries for Surya Anand to dismantle the Panthers’ charge.
Who says you need to be a batter to go berserk? Surya Anand came in as a substitute for the Panthers and was instrumental in helping his team get to the victory line. In his spell that lasted 23 deliveries, he grabbed four wickets and gave away just 24 runs. All of his wickets came in the 19th over of the match, in a span of five deliveries.
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A win for the Nellai Royal Kings last night would have gotten them to the second position on the points table. However, they have now played four games with as many points and sit fourth on the table. As for the Panthers, the Surya Anand-powered victory meant a lot in terms of the points. They also sit on four points, but are placed sixth due to their run rate.
The TNPL 2025 is surely heating up, with four teams placed with the same number of points. The Chepauk Super Gillies and the SKM Salem Spartans sit well on top with eight and six points respectively. On the other hand, the Trichy Grand Cholas have managed just a solitary victory, and the Lyca Kovai Kings are yet to open their account.
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