CCL 2024: Punjab De Sher tries to make Telugu Warriors sweat, but Thaman steamrolls them

If you drop a catch and give S Thaman a lease of life, you’ve got to be prepared to pay for it. Chasing 106 for victory against Punjab De Sher missed out on two opportunities to get Thaman out early on, and his response to that was to pummel their bowling with a 67-run knock of only 30 balls. He took his team within arms’ length of victory and then skipper Akhil Akkineni tried to finish it off in style. While he couldn’t, the defending champions still managed to beat team Punjab fair and square.

The Hyderabad leg of the Celebrity Cricket League is seeing a totally different strategy at play from what one saw last weekend in Sharjah. While the inaugural weekend saw teams batting first successfully defending their totals, on day 1 in Hyderabad, first Jiiva (Chennai Rhinos) and then Akhil Akkineni (Telugu Warriors), having won the toss, decided to send their opponents in to bat first and chase. There was something about the pitch and the grass on it that gave both skippers the confidence that chasing may just be the better option.

In the first match of the day, Jiiva proved he was right. And the second match also seemed to be going that way after the first set of 10 overs each. Batting first, Punjab De Sher didn’t have a great start, losing a few wickets in quick succession, but then Karan and Anuj gave the team some much needed middle-order stability and got them to a modest 72 for the loss of 7 wickets in their first set of 10 overs. What was surprising was the absolute tight line of bowling that they then unleashed on the Telugu Warriors, which had them just crossing over into double digits in 4 overs, and having lost 3 wickets.

With Ashwin Babu and Thaman at the crease, it looked like the Warriors would find a way to overcome this initial set back, but then the composer who loves a good game of cricket departed soon enough, scoring only 3. Ashwin remained rock steady even as wickets fell at the other end. But even his knock of 43 of 25 balls could get his team only to 59 for the loss of 7 wickets, 13 short of the target the Punjab team had set.

A three-digit target is a big ask when chasing, and that is exactly what the Punjab De Sher team set for the Warriors. Sonu Sood’s team capitalized on the lead they had and how and went all out to ensure that they would make the defending champions sweat in trying to chase their total down. Aided by a good knock from Anuj (39), the Punjab team amassed 93 runs on the scoreboard, setting a target of 107 for the Warriors.

Big hitter Ashwin departed early and it looked like the Warriors were in trouble, but then Thaman took charge and began turning the match around in the 5th over. Hitting the ball to the boundary and beyond across all corners of the field, Thaman made merry of the bowling. Such was his onslaught that he literally broke his bat in an attempted shot to the boundary. What seemed like a mammoth task became a cakewalk after the 27-run 5th over, and from there on, it seemed there was no stopping Thaman. The brakes were applied when Thaman was sent back to the pavilion for obstructing the field while dashing down the crease for a quick single.

Skipper Akhil Akkineni seemed intent on doing the honours of taking the team across the finish line, but he perished just short, after which, there was quite some drama on the field. It seemed that the match could go either way, but then the four-time champs persevered.