TNPL | Swapnil Singh’s all-round show blows away Royal Kings

Swapnil Singh shines with bat and ball as Chepauk Super Gillies defeat Nellai Royal Kings by 41 runs in TNPL-9.

Swapnil Singh produced a fine all-round performance, first a brilliant 14-ball 45 (2x4, 5x6) followed by a miserly spell (4-0-26-2) to help Chepauk Super Gillies thrash Nellai Royal Kings by 41 runs in a TNPL-9 league match at the Sri Ramakrishna College ground here on Monday.

It was the second successive win for Super Gillies who are leading the table with four points from two matches.

Asked to bat first, Super Gillies amassed 212 for seven — the fourth-highest total in the league — riding on useful cameos from four of the top-six batters.

Opener K. Aashiq (54), appearing in his second match, scored a breezy half-century and added 83 for the second wicket alongside skipper B. Aparajith (41) to set a solid foundation.

The left-hander looked compact while driving and cutting the pacers. Against the spinners, he lofted cleanly down the ground and He got to his half-century with a swept six over square leg off left-arm spinner Sachin Rathi.

However, it was Vijay Shankar (47 n.o.) and Swapnil, the experienced campaigners, who gave the final flourish, raining sixes and plundering 78 runs in the last five. Vijay Shankar first took on Rathi, hitting two sixes and a four in the 16th over.

Swapnil then joined the party and used the long handle to brutal effect, smashing pacer M. Udhaya Kumar for a hat-trick of sixes in the 18th over. By the time he was out in the final over, CSG had crossed 200.