Tushar Raheja and Esakkimuthu: Tiruppur Tamizhans’ twin pillars in TNPL triumph

CHENNAI: Tiruppur Tamizhans’ sheer dominance over the past month culminated in their maiden TNPL crown on Sunday.Central to their success were Tushar Raheja and A Esakkimuthu, who shone the brightest in a team that also had other players sparkle.

While opener Tushar shattered a record by accumulating 488 runs, the most in a TNPL season, young pacer Esakkimuthu (14 wickets) was the breakout star of the tournament.Tushar looked in magical touch for much of his near-perfect campaign, putting Tamizhans in the box seat with strong powerplay work. The elegant southpaw amassed runs with remarkable consistency (5 half-centuries in 9 innings) and a brilliant strike-rate (185.55) as he constantly proved to be a thorn in rivals’ flesh.

According to Tushar, having a positive mindset and better understanding of his T20 game helped create waves. “I set the base for myself last season; I found the pattern in terms of my T20 batting. This year, I worked a lot more mentally. I am glad that I was able to produce better results than last season,” Tushar, also named the ‘Player of the Tournament’, told TOI.“When you play a T20 match, you cannot quite look at who the bowler is.

I always look for runs irrespective of the situation and the bowler. In T20 cricket, there is not much time to give too much respect to a particular name,” said Tushar, who forged a superb opening combination with Amith Sathvik (340 runs).As for the 23-year-old Esakkimuthu, he made heads turn with raw pace in his maiden season. Courtesy his excellent performances in the middle overs, which ensured Tamizhans had a stranglehold on their opponents in most matches, Esakkimuthu deservedly bagged the ‘Emerging Bowler of the Season’ award.The right-armer put it down to the role clarity provided by the think-tank and captain R Sai Kishore. “They backed me a lot, trusted me and told me what exactly I had to do. Whenever I made mistakes, I had players like T Natarajan by my side. I just trusted my pace during the tournament, but I have to work on variations,” Esakkimuthu said.What made his run all the more impressive was the ability to bounce back from a nightmarish outing in his second game.

Esakkimuthu leaked 25 runs in his final over, including bowling four successive no-balls, against Salem Spartans, who hugely benefitted from it and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.“After that match, I became stronger mentally. I was even more motivated to perform for the people who backed me in the journey. I wanted to give something back to them. I was told that I would not be dropped and that they expect me to win the following match. Those words gave me a lot of confidence,” Esakkimuthu added.