DINDIGUL:Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL) has always been touted as a sieve for winnowing out true talent from the myriad, unknown cricketers in the state’s districts.Wednesday at the NPR College campus in Natham served as yet another testament to that notion, placing the spotlight firmly on Dindigul Dragons’ No 3 for the night: NS Chaturved.
Chaturved is as unknown as an unknown person can get. Heck, even know-it-all Google stutters to piece together the cricketing trajectory of this right-hander. Just to add more emphasis to that statement, it isn’t even sure about his age or place of birth.What the search engine can shed light on about Chaturved’s life on the field are these facts. He turns out for Kancheepuram at the district level, and has skippered AG’s Office in Tamil Nadu Cricket Association’s (TNCA) First Division League.
Even Google gives up after doling out this final piece of trivia. He’s reeled out a few crucial knocks for VB Thiruvallur Veerans in the past two seasons, having accrued 357 runs for them at an average and strike rate of 25.5 and 117.05. These numbers may have perhaps spurred Dindigul to go after the all-rounder — he bowls leg-breaks too, says Google — during this player draft.
And, Dindigul reaped the results of this investment at a stage that befitted it: their homecoming this season. Pitted against Lyca Kovai Kings and a feisty M Shahrukh Khan, R Ashwin and his men had an 186-run mountain to climb during their first outing at their home ground. The 4,000-odd spectators were bleeding yellow and red (even though their jersey has seen blue creep into it now), with each guttural roar egging them on for a win.
Dindigul had already hit the NOS button through a few howitzers from opener Hari Nishaanth’s blade. The score read 54/1 in 5 overs, and Chaturved had gotten four sighters under his belt. He was sharing the 22-yard strip with Narayan Jagadeesan, now even a bigger celebrity courtesy Chennai Super Kings’ recent IPL title run. The stage was set for an unknown hero to rise. What happened in the next three balls might make good fodder for a good action-based comic strip, with the “biff, wham, pow” of each pane being replaced with “six, six, four”.
Mind you, those three ferocious blows came off Krishnamoorthy Vignesh, a speedster who’s acquired quite the credentials in the domestic circuit. After the more-illustrious partner of his chipped in with a four, Dindigul ended their powerplay on 76/1, the second highest in the history of this tournament. Kovai’s bowlers were deflated even before the halfway mark.
The blows kept raining, both from Chaturved’s and his partners’ willows. Jagadeesan coasted to an unbeaten 66 off just 50 balls. B Anirudh Sita Ram cashed in on more meek deliveries to churn out a 11-ball 25. No bowler had an economy of below 9. A chase of 185 had been reduced to a joke, one that finished with eight wickets and 14 balls to spare. By the time Chaturved ended his night with a 36-ball 72, Dindigul had found a new hero.
rahul.ravi@newindianexpress.com
Brief scores: Lyca Kovai Kings 185/5 in 20 ovs (M Shahrukh Khan 86, Akkil
Srinaath 54) lost to Dindigul Dragons 190/2 in 17.4 ovs (N Jagadeesan 66 n.o, NS Chaturved 76).