CCL 2023: How S. Thaman won hearts with his all-round performance for Telugu Warriors

The Telugu Warriors are over the moon right now and why wouldn't they be. The recently-concluded Celebrity Cricket League saw Akhil Akkineni and co. put in the hard yards to secure the coveted trophy and also, in the same vein, offer some super exciting entertainment to their ardent fans. The tournament, in itself, ebbed and flowed and comprised a lot of drama for the Warriors who waded through all the crucial phases to get their hands on the trophy.

Having steamrolled their oppositions in the opening two games of CCL 2023, the Telugu Warriors seemed like the team to beat and Akhil Akkineni's incredible batting form, too, enunciated just that. However, the next two league games saw the boys from Tollywood lose out in close contests but, luckily for them, their NRR (net run rate) helped them secure a place in the semifinals.

Their semifinal game was no easy task either, considering that they faced the mighty Karnataka Bulldozers, but the team put on a solid show to overcome the stiff challenge. Into the finale and facing off against the undefeated Bhojpuri Dabanggs, the Telugu Warriors were required to be at their best and the boys did just that.

Along with Akhil's great form, other players like Ashwin Babu, Sachin Joshi, Raghu, Samrat Reddy, and Sudheer Babu, too, made incredibly valuable contributions for the Warriors. The six games that the team played in total saw each player contribute in some form or the other, making it an exceptional performance.

However, as it turned out, the Telugu Warriors boasted a dark horse in the form of S. Thaman who put on a number of solid all-round performances for his team throughout the tournament, the prolific music composer proved to be an integral member of his team. 

In fact, it was Thaman who got the Warriors over the line in the tense semifinal game against Karnataka Bulldozers, wherein he scored a crucial 25 in the final chase: he even hit the winning boundary!

More than that, the Jimikki Ponnu composer turned out to be the mascot and the entertainer for the Warriors and his funny antics on the field won the hearts of the fans. The CCL 2023 organizers, too, awarded him 'Best Entertainer of the Tournament', aside from the Best Bowler of the Match award.