T.S. Vinil’s spell set up Ripples’ win with a fiery spell.
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Left-arm pacer T.S. Vinil’s fiery spell upfront and Mohammed Azharuddeen’s blitzkrieg during the chase powered Alleppey Ripples to an eight-wicket win over Trivandrum Royals in the Kerala Cricket League at the Sports Hub Greenfield Stadium on Friday.

Vinil’s spell in the PowerPlay, which included a double wicket maiden over, broke the back of Royals batting and it limped to 126 for eight in 20 overs. Azharuddeen (68, 29b, 8×4, 5×6), who was dropped on eight by Sijomon Joseph, sewed up the contest in the PowerPlay. After Azharuddeen’s dismissal, skipper Sachin Baby (26 not out) and K.A. Arun (24 not out) guided Ripples home with 43 balls to spare.

There was no hint of a Royals collapse when Vishnu Vinod smoked the first ball of the match from Vinil through covers for a boundary. However, Vinil’s twin strikes in the second over changed the contest on its head. Vinil got the ball to jag back and pinned Vishnu (7) in front and dismissed Abhishek P. Nair for a duck.

When Royals’ skipper Krishna Prasad was run out, trying to go for a non-existent third, the team slumped to 26 for four in the PowerPlay. Sijomon (46) and K. Ajeesh (23) counterattacked to add 39 runs for the seventh wicket which enabled Royals to cross 100.

Azharuddeen started imperiously, spanking Vinod Kumar for consecutive boundaries, but Sijomon, at covers, failed to latch on a mistimed drive from the batter in the same over. Azhar made Royals pay for the grave error and took the game away with his scintillating knock.

The scores: Trivandrum Royals 126/8 in 20 overs (Sijomon Joseph 46, T.S. Vinil 3/19, Jalaj Saxena 2/22) lost to Alleppey Ripples 127/2 in 12.5 over (Mohammed Azharuddeen 68, Sachin Baby 26 n.o.).