Dindigul Dragons vs Salem Spartans, 28th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

A fairytale result to cap the league stages off. Salem have broken that jinx of not winning a TNPL game till-date, in front of their home crowd. A rather similar trend in both the games today. Two below-par totals, both boosted by final over cameos, proved more than enough when clearly, it didn't seem to be the case at the halfway stage of both the games. Tells you that on such slow used surfaces, tricky chases can really get, well, tricky. Hope you enjoyed our coverage of the double-header. We have a day's break before we head into the playoff stages. Do join us for that. Until next time, it's a goodbye from us.

M Ashwin | Salem captain: It means a lot. I just wish we had seven more games this season. The intent to get that win (was the difference today). Definitely, there are lot of positives. We are a bowling side, just that we didn't put enough runs on the board. We have spoken on how to get things better in the batting in all aspects. Hopefully we can improve next year.

G Periyaswamy | Player of the Match: The folks here in my native supported us a lot, a big thank you to them. My mother never came to watch my live before, so it was a special feeling. We never won a game before, so we were desperate to at least win a game. (On what TNPL has given him) It's given me a life.

Hari Nishanth | Dindigul captain: We didn't get starts and that why we are here. Two sixes in the last over was costly for us. Batting has been the strength for Dindigul but this year we didn't capitalize. I have been with this franchise for four years and this year it was a bit down.

22:48 Local Time, 17:18 GMT, 22:48 IST: Firsts are always special, and when it's taken almost two seasons for you to register your first win, you can imagine how big this moment is for the Salem players. Fittingly, they've achieved the feat in front of their home crowd. A clinical bowling display from the home side, making that low total of 124 look way more bigger than it was. Periyaswamy's double-strike off the first two balls of the chase was the perfect start Salem needed and there was no looking back thereafter. The injury to Bharathi did hamper Dindigul too but that's no excuse because the targer was still chaseable. Apart from Vimal, none of the batters showed the stomach for a fight and in the end, they were well short. As strange as it may sound, they were never really in this chase at all, despite not having to chase a lot. Which tells you how important early wickets are in defending a score, no matter how small it may be.

Ravi Karthikeyan to Advaith Sharma, 1 run, Salem register their first-ever win in TNPL history! What a moment for the rookie franchise! It's a dull finish to the innings, Sharma tries to go downtown and drags it off the inside half towards long-on. Just a single and the home crowd start to roar in delight

Ravi Karthikeyan to Advaith Sharma, no run, flatter one outside off, cut away to point

Ravi Karthikeyan to M Silambarasan, 1 run, dropped! Sloppy last 5-10 minutes in the field for Salem, even if it may not cost them much. Another slog sweep from Silambarasan, skied this completely and it should have been swallowed at deep mid-wicket. However, the fielder makes a meal of it and spills the chance

Ravi Karthikeyan to Advaith Sharma, 1 run, slower and wider, Sharma mistimes the slog sweep towards deep mid-wicket. And with this, even the mathematical possibility of a Dindigul win has died

Ravi Karthikeyan to M Silambarasan, 1 run, more bat on the slog sweep this time but Silambarasan just doesn't have enough power or timing. Well short of deep mid-wicket

Ravi Karthikeyan to M Silambarasan, no run, fractionally short, Silambarasan is well early on the back foot pull and can only drag an under-edge onto the track

Ravi Karthikeyan [1.0-0-10-0] is back into the attack

So, 23 needed off the final over with just this final wicket in hand for Dindigul. No prizes for guessing the probability of the match result. Can these two tailenders induce some fun? A couple of sixes could really make things interesting, as far-fetched as it may sound. Will be spin to finish things off.

G Periyaswamy to Advaith Sharma, no run, fuller again, Sharma drives firmly this time but picks out extra cover

G Periyaswamy to Advaith Sharma, no run, angling in on middle-and-off, on a good length, Sharma hangs back and defends

G Periyaswamy to M Silambarasan, 1 run, pitched right up, off stump line, squeezed out through point

G Periyaswamy to M Silambarasan, no run, short of a length outside off, Silambarasan looks to cut it away but misses

G Periyaswamy to M Silambarasan, no run, hits the hard length around off stump, Silambarasan defends off the back foot to point

G Periyaswamy to Advaith Sharma, 1 run, tries the yorker but it's a low full toss, jabbed to short mid-wicket where the fielder just had to gather the ball cleanly because he was very close to the stumps at the bowler's end, and M Silambarasan was way out of the crease. But the fielder misfields and allows a single

G Periyaswamy [3.0-1-9-3] is back into the attack