Chaturved’s 121 off 47 chases down 240, and Kovai Kings’ 239 counts for nothing
Kovai Kings made 239 for 4 at Dindigul and lost with three balls to spare. NS Chaturved’s 121 from 47 balls was the reason.
Aug 8, 2026
Two Kovai Kings batters passed 80 at the NPR College Ground on Saturday, the innings closed on 239 for 4, and none of it was enough. Madurai Panthers knocked the runs off with three balls to spare, and the man who took the game away from them made 121 off 47 balls.
NS Chaturved walked in three deliveries into the chase, Ram Kumar having already edged Deeban Lingesh through to the keeper. Madurai were 7 for 1 and needed 233 more at better than 11 an over. By the end of the powerplay they had 75.
Fifty off 19 balls, hundred off 40
Chaturved got to his fifty in 19 deliveries and his hundred in 40. He and Siddharth Mahadevan put on 162 for the second wicket, a stand that reached three figures inside 51 balls, and when Jhathavedh Subramanyan finally had him stumped for 121 the score was 169 and the result was more or less settled. Fifteen fours, seven sixes, a strike rate of 257.
Madurai still needed 71 off 43 after he left, which in most run chases is the point where things get complicated. They did not. Atheeq Ur Rahman made 25 off 15 before holing out with the score on 218, and Balchander Anirudh, the captain, was there at the end on 37 not out from 19 balls with Gurjapneet Singh unbeaten alongside him.
Kovai’s 239 looked like plenty at the time
For about two hours this was Kovai’s night. Balasubramaniam Sachin hit 84 off 43 with nine fours and five sixes, C Andre Siddarth finished unbeaten on 87 off 42 with six sixes of his own, and the pair added 143 for the third wicket before Sachin picked out Chaturved in the 19th over. Suresh Lokeshwar had set it up with 38 off 21 at the top.
Shahrukh Khan, the Kovai captain, got three balls and made 2. A brief shower interrupted things with the score 230 for 3, and the innings ended at 239 for 4, scored at 11.95 an over. In this competition that is usually a winning total.
Nobody bowled well, one bowler bowled less badly
Gurjapneet Singh took 2 for 41 for Madurai and was still unbeaten at the other end when the winning runs came, which counts as a good evening’s work on a night when 479 runs were scored. Kovai got through seven bowlers and five of them conceded more than 11 an over. RS Ambrish went for 48 in two and a half.
Chaturved took the player-of-the-match award. Madurai have now won both their games in this tournament chasing, and both of them inside the final over, having beaten Trichy by two wickets with two balls left on 5 August. That is either a sign of a side that holds its nerve or a side that likes cutting things fine. Two more finishes like this and we will find out which.