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Right then, that is it from the game. A convincing victory for the Lyca Kovai Kings as they confirm their spot in the playoffs. The action continues in the Tamil Nadu Premier League, 2024, as we have a game lined up on Wednesday, the 24th of July. It will be between Nellai Royal Kings and IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans at 7.15 pm IST (1.45 pm GMT). This will be the final game of the Tirunelveli leg before the caravan moves for the final leg toward Dindigul. Do join us a bit early for the build-up as well. Until then, take care, and cheers!

The captain of Lyca Kovai Kings, SHAHRUKH KHAN is adjudged as the Player of the Match for his all-round brilliance. First, he scored a resilient quickfire half-century against the pace of play and helped the Kovai Kings to post a total to fight. Then into the defence, he bowled an extremely economical spell, by conceding just 16 runs off his quota of 4 overs, and a wicket.

... THE PRESENTATION ...

And again, Siechem Madurai Panthers' batting was exposed against a quality bowling line up. Also, this is the second instance when the Lyca Kovai Kings have managed to defend a below-par score successfully. They did that against the Super Gillies where they defended 141. Overall, they truly played like the defending champions. This win will not only inflate their net run rate to leaps and bounds but also cement their place in the top two. For the Panthers, things are looking a bit bleak now. They must go back to the drawing board and analyze where things went wrong in this game. With just a couple of more games to play, they are hovering in the bottom two with just 3 points to their name.

Earlier in the match, the Lyca Kovai Kings scored 163/9. Shahrukh Khan was their top-scorer with 51 off 26. Their openers departed early on in the game, while Sudharsan and Mukilesh added 42 runs for the third wicket. Ajay Krishna was the standout bowler for the Siechem Madurai Panthers, taking four wickets, supported by R Mithun who picked two wickets. The Panthers successfully stemmed the flow of runs with timely wickets restricting the Kings to a total of 163 runs which was said to be a low one at the start of the game.

The Siechem Madurai Panthers have lost their third game and are reeling at the bottom half of the table. They were off to a terrible start and kept on losing wickets whenever a partnership was brewing for them. Jagatheesan Kousik kept on playing a lone hand but the batters at the other end kept on losing wickets. He departed in the 12th over as the required rate kept on climbing and he had to go big, and that was when the game was totally over for them. Karthick Manikandan, coming in at number 9, was the highest run scorer for Madurai. He impressed and played a fantastic inning of 33. But, alas, it all came in a losing cause.

So, with this win, the Lyca Kovai Kings confirm their spot in the playoffs. They were right on top of their opponents right from the word go operating with their spin from one end and pace from the other. It was M. Siddharth and K Gowtham Thamarai Kannan, who came in as an impact player, and ran havoc over the opponents' top order as well as the middle order. They kept on picking wickets and never let the Siechem Madurai Panthers batters settle in the game.

OUT! CAUGHT BEHIND! Lyca Kovai Kings, the defending champions have successfully defended a below-par total and have registered their 5th win of the season with a comprehensive bowling display. Valliappan Yudheeswaran continues from around the wickets and angles it across, outside off, Karthick Manikandan throws the kitchen sink at it and swooshes hard with all his might. But only manages to get a thick outside edge. Suresh Kumar does the rest behind the wickets taking a simple regulation catch.  Lyca Kovai Kings beat the Siechem Madurai Panthers by a convincing margin of 43 runs.

OUT! CAUGHT BEHIND! Lyca Kovai Kings, the defending champions have successfully defended a below-par total and have registered their 5th win of the season with a comprehensive bowling display. Valliappan Yudheeswaran continues from around the wickets and angles it across, outside off, Karthick Manikandan throws the kitchen sink at it and swooshes hard with all his might. But only manages to get a thick outside edge. Suresh Kumar does the rest behind the wickets taking a simple regulation catch.  Lyca Kovai Kings beat the Siechem Madurai Panthers by a convincing margin of 43 runs.

Sees the batter shuffling outside off, Valliappan Yudheeswaran slants it way more across off, on a fuller length, and takes the pace off. Karthick Manikandan is undone by the lack of pace and gets beaten.

Length ball, over the top of off, Karthick Manikandan stays leg side and mistimes it in the air. The ball lands on a single bounce in front of Shahrukh Khan at mid off.

FOUR! Shot! Valliappan Yudheeswaran bowls an overpitched delivery outside off, Karthick Manikandan stands deep inside the crease, and slices it out towards the vacant deep backward point region for another boundary.

FOUR! He has played a good little inning here! No doubt his team is heading to a defeat, but Karthick Manikandan has been impressive with the bat. A low full toss on off from around the stumps, Karthick Manikandan spanks it flat and over mid off for a boundary.

An attempted-yorker, on off, Karthick Manikandan shovels it out to deep covers for a brace.

Edged, in the air, just short! M Mohammed bowls a pace-off delivery, outside off, full in length, Gurjapneet Singh clears his front leg to tonk it over the in-field but gets deceived by the lack of pace. Hence, the ball lobs up off the splice of the willow towards short third. It lands just ahead of K Gowtham Thamarai Kannan who dives and manages to intercept the ball.

Full, on the stumps, Karthick Manikandan swipes across the line, and hits it to deep mid-wicket for a single.

An attempted-yorker, on the middle, Gurjapneet Singh drills it down to long on for one.