Murugan Ashwin takes a superb flying catch in a TNPL game
The Madurai spinner pulled off a flying stunner in the second innings of the game when the Dragons were chasing 124
The Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) 2023 game number 8, between Dindigul Dragons vs Siechem Madurai Panthers, on Sunday saw some extraordinary fielding efforts from Murugan Ashwin. The Madurai spinner pulled off a flying stunner in the second innings of the game when the Dragons were chasing 124.
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The incident happened in the fourth over of Dindigul’s chase when pacer Gurjapneet Singh bowled a length delivery to S Arun. The batter slashed it hard over and mistimed it as the ball went flying over point. Murugan Ashwin ran back and dived to grab it with both hands. It was the third dismissal for Dindigul Dragons within the powerplay and also the third wicket for Gurjapneet in the game.
Three quick wickets certainly put Madurai on top of the game but a match-winning stand between Baba Indrajith and Adithya Ganesh brought back into the Dragons back into the game.
The Dindigul wicketkeeper-batter notched up a blazing fifty off just 35 balls in the 12th over by Washington Sundar, which turned out to be the most expensive for Madurai. After completing his fifty with a six off the first ball Indrajith smashed another couple of maximums and finished it with a boundary off the final delivery.
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The 26-run over certainly changed the course of the game as Dindigul Dragons chased down the lowly 124-run target with 35 balls to spare. Indrajith scored an unbeaten 78 off 48 with the help of 7 boundaries and 4 sixes. His partner Adithya Ganesh scored 22 not-out, hitting 1 boundary and a six.
Earlier, Madurai were bowled out for 123 runs in 19.3 overs after being asked to bat first. Jagatheesan Kousik top-scored with a 34-ball 45 while skipper Hari Nishanth scored 24 off 26, with the help of two boundaries and a six.
Suboth Bhati was the pick of the Dindigul bowlers, returning figures of 3 for 19 in 4 overs. Sarvana Kumar also picked three wickets for 22 in 3.3 overs while Varun Chakravarthy bagged 2 for 23. Skipper Ravichandran Ashwin and M Mathivannan picked up a wicket apiece.
