TNPL | Sensational Surya wins it for Madurai Panthers

Surya Anand's hat-trick and four-wicket over leads Siechem Madurai Panthers to victory in TNPL match.

Left-arm pacer Surya Anand’s incredible over — four wickets off five deliveries, including a hat-trick — swung the contest in Siechem Madurai Panthers’ favour in a TNPL match at the Salem Cricket Foundation ground here on Wednesday.

Nellai Royal Kings needed 11 in two overs when Surya marked his run-up. He castled Sonu Yadav off the first ball and performed the ’trick by sending back V. Yudheeswaran, Sachin Rathi and Emmanuel Cherian off the third, fourth and fifth deliveries. That Surya castled three of the four batters made it all the more memorable.

Before the Surya show, K.B. Arun Karthik (67, 43b, 7x4, 3x6) had waged a lone battle for the Nellai side. Panthers’ bowlers had the Royal Kings on a leash for most part of the chase.

Earlier, medium-pacer Sonu’s three-wicket haul and off-spinner Rocky Bhasker’s early breakthroughs put the Madurai outfit in a spot before a late onslaught from Gurjapneet Singh (24, 8b, 3x6) and P. Saravanan (16 n.o., 10b, 2x6) lifted it to 168 for nine.

For the third day running, rain made an appearance, delaying the start by 35 minutes. But once play began, Panthers, after being asked to bat, were pushed onto the back foot immediately.

Opener Ram Arvindh fell to pacer Cherian.

The pressure mounted quickly as Rocky struck twice, removing N.S. Chaturved and S. Shyam Sundar, leaving Panthers struggling at 26 for three after four overs.