Tushar Raheja smashes one through the off-side.
| Photo Credit: E. LAKSHMI NARAYANAN
Salem: Tushar Raheja smashed his fourth consecutive half-century of the season as IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans crushed Trichy Grand Cholas by seven wickets in an afternoon fixture in the TNPL at the Salem Cricket Foundation Ground on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 165, Tushar (80, 36b, 8×4, 6×6) picked up right where he left off in the previous game, starting with a boundary off pacer Athisayaraj Davidson. He then unleashed a brutal assault on P. Saravana Kumar, striking three exquisite fours and two towering sixes in the third over that yielded 26 runs.
Athisayaraj faced the same punishment as Tushar sent a six soaring over square-leg and followed it with a boundary as Tamizhans raced to 51 in just four overs.
Impact Player K. Easwaran provided relief by dismissing opener Amit Sathwick and Daryl Ferrario in the fifth over.
However, Tushar was unstoppable. He took on left-arm spinner N. Selva Kumar, hammering two massive sixes — one on either side of the wicket— and two boundaries to take 20 runs from the sixth over.
He continued his onslaught against off-spinner U. Mukilesh, dispatching him for a four and a six before finally falling to left-arm spinner Sanjay Yadav. However, an unbroken 59-run stand between Pradosh Ranjan Paul and S. Mohamed Ali for the fourth wicket sealed it for the Tiruppur side.
Earlier, Sanjay’s explosive knock (60 n.o., 32b, 5×4, 4×6) propelled Cholas to 164 for six. Opting to bowl, Tamizhans struck early, reducing Cholas to 23 for two.
Opener S. Sujay and Jagatheesan Kousik added 36 before left-arm tweaker Mohan Prasath dismissed both. Later, Sanjay and Mukilesh joined forces and counter-attacked, adding 64 runs, with a few lusty blows off Ferrario and R. Sai Kishore before a run-out ended the stand. Sanjay continued his charge alongside Jafar Jamal and added 18 runs in the penultimate over.
The scores: Trichy Grand Cholas 164/6 in 20 overs (S. Sujay 37, Sanjay Yadav 60 n.o., Mohan Prasath 2/16) lost to IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans 165/3 in 18.5 overs (Tushar Raheja 80, Pradosh Ranjan Paul 42 n.o., K. Easwaran 2/10). Toss: Cholas.
Monday’s match: Chepauk Super Gillies vs Dindigul Dragons (7.15 p.m.).
Published – June 15, 2025 07:30 pm IST