Tushar Raheja the hero as Tiruppur win maiden TNPL title

A stellar TNPL season for Tushar Raheja ended with the opening batter leading IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans to their maiden title. The 24-year-old made 77 off 46 balls to propel his team to a total of 220 for 5 against Dindigul Dragons, who simply crumbled in the chase, getting bowled out for 102.

Raheja finished the Tamil Nadu Premier League as its highest scorer with 488 runs at a strike rate of 186. His aggression at the top of the order helped Tiruppur dictate terms after they were put in to bat. Raheja hit six fours and four sixes and by the time he was dismissed in the 16th over, his team had 160 on the board.

Amit Sathvik caused just as much damage, striking his fourth half-century in five T20s and taking him to third place (340) on the season's highest run-getters list. The 22-year-old clattered eight fours and three sixes on his way to 65 off 34 balls as the Dragons bowlers were left scratching their heads. Four of the six they used had economy rates in the double-digits and even Ashwin (9) and Varun Chakravarthy (9.75) weren't spared. With the platform set by the top-order, Tiruppur scored 60 runs off the last 4.5 overs to finish with 220 for 5.

Dindigul were never in the chase, losing four wickets by the end of the powerplay. They were barely hanging on at the halfway stage, with eight of their batters already back in the pavilion. Raghupathy Silambarasan (2-12), T Natarajan (1-19), Mohan Prasath (2-18) and A Esakkimuthu (2-27) made significant impacts with the ball. The 23-year-old Esakkimuthu in his first professional T20 tournament ended up as its second-highest wicket-taker with 14 strikes at an economy rate of 7.46. Dindigul were bowled out in 14.4 overs as Sai Kishore and his men lifted the title.