TNPL 2023: Captain bowls the most expensive final ball

A no-ball in the death overs has resulted in many heartbreaks over the years. Bowling a no-ball can prove to be very costly, especially in the death overs when the batting side has their most powerful hitters at the crease. These batters can take you apart if you give them a free hit and let them settle. Last night in a Tamil Nadu Premier League game between Chepauk Super Gillies and Salem Spartans the cricket fans witnessed the most expensive final ball in T20s.

Chepauk Super Gillies were batting first and they reached 191 runs in 19 overs. Salem Spartans’ captain Abhishek Tanwar came to bowl the final over of the innings. Tanwar got the over to a great start as he only conceded eight runs off the first five balls. He had bowled a no-ball already but luckily for him, it did not prove to be as costly as what was about to follow.

Abhishek Tanwar’s final ball

Bowling to Sanjay Yadav, Tanwar bowled a perfect final ball yorker as he dismissed Sanjay by rattling the leg-stump. It was all for nothing as Tanwar had overstepped and bowled a no-ball. The free-hit ball went for a six as the captain bowled a low full toss which was hit by Sanjay over deep mid-wicket, it was another no-ball as he had overstepped once again. The next free-hit ball was once again a perfect yorker which was towards the long-on fielder as they ran two runs, the Salem Spartans captain had overstepped once again which meant he got ready to bowl another free-hit ball. The next ball was not a no-ball but was a wide down the leg side. The ultimate final ball of the innings was bowled as Tanwar missed the yorker mark and was punished by Sanjay with a flat six over deep mid-wicket.

The over went for 26 runs as Tanwar conceded 18 runs off the final ball.

Rest of the match

In the first innings, Chepauk Super Gillies got off to a flying start as their openers, Pradosh Paul and skipper Jagadeesan maximised the powerplay restrictions. The CSG openers scored 64 runs in the first six overs. Paul scored 88 runs in 55 balls as fell short by 12 runs of a well-deserved century. They had scored 164 runs in 16 overs and looked to score well above the 200-run mark. Salem Spartans got back into the game with a flurry of wickets and could have restricted them below the 200 mark if it was not for that final ball.

In reply, Salem Spartans never got off to a good start as no batter crossed the 50-run mark. They had messed up the batting order as their hard-hitting batter, Muhammed Adnan Khan came at number 9 and scored 47 runs in just 15 balls. In the end, it was a very great effort from Khan but the Salem Spartans scored just 165 runs in response to CSG’s 217.