Salem Spartans vs Madurai Panthers, 26th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

Gowtham to Murugan Ashwin, SIX, Ashwin finishes the innings grandly! Gets one in the slot, width on offer too and he goes downtown, lofting merrily over long-off for a towering strike. Salem finish with 144/5

Gowtham to Ferrario, out Caught by DT Chandrasekar!! Gowtham's change-of-pace has been mighty effective this season! Another slower one, it's a low full toss but Ferrario is duped by the lack of speed on the delivery. Is early into the loft, bottom hand coming off the blade and he picks out long-on to perfection. Ferrario c DT Chandrasekar b Gowtham 30(32) [4s-1]

Silambarasan to Murugan Ashwin, SIX, this is a brilliant cameo from Ashwin! Clean hitting and more importantly, he is finding the gaps. Shuffles across a bit, gets the slot ball and whips it over the deep backward square leg fence. 19 off the over! Just the kind of momentum Salem were seeking at the back end

Silambarasan to Ferrario, FOUR, stunning shot! Silambarasan misses the yorker by the barest of margins and Ferrario makes him pay! Goes inside out and lofts it so cleanly. One bounce and to the fence

Silambarasan to Murugan Ashwin, SIX, dropped and six! The fielder at wide long-on had this covered for most parts but ends up letting it through his hands and what's worse, parries it over the ropes. Handy runs for Salem. Was a slower ball, Ashwin heaved it with all the power he could muster and gets lucky eventually

Silambarasan to Murugan Ashwin, SIX, what a shot first ball! Silambarasan continues with the wide line, misses the yorker by a bit and Ashwin just leans into the loft, pure timing and sends it all the way over deep cover

Silambarasan to Shankar, out Caught by Sugenthiran!! Smacks this hard and flat but it's straight to the man at long-off who moved sharply to his left to pouch it. The ball was really travelling at the rate of knots, so it was a very good catch. Shankar departs just short of his fifty. Was quite full and wide, he wanted to go inside out over extra cover, ended up getting it straighter than he would have liked. Shankar c Sugenthiran b Silambarasan 47(40) [4s-3 6s-1]

Silambarasan to Shankar, FOUR, neat placement! Slot ball, leg-lined and he drop-kicks this with a strong bottom hand, bisecting long-on and deep mid-wicket perfectly

J Kousik to Shankar, SIX, finally, finally! Shankar shows intent and smokes this over wide long-on for a gigantic maximum. Picked the slower ball early, wasn't all that full but Shankar used his reach and then let his bat swing do the rest

J Kousik to S Abishiek, out Lbw!! Umpire Jayaraman Madanagopal didn't give a plumb LBW last J Kousik over but here he has no hesitation in raising the finger in a flash. Full and nips off the seam, beats the drive of S Abishiek and that's plumb as the impact is on off. S Abishiek played down the wrong line and had no chance once he did that. S Abishiek lbw b J Kousik 6(7)

DT Chandrasekar to S Abishiek, 2 runs, flicked to the right of deep square leg, quick running gives them the second

Gowtham to Sushil, out Caught by Sugenthiran!! How has he pulled that straight to the fielder at deep mid-wicket? Was there to be deposited over the ropes but Sushil finds the man. Didn't have the power to get it over the longer boundary. A wicket against the run of play. Sushil c Sugenthiran b Gowtham 18(21) [4s-3]

Gowtham to Shankar, FOUR, fabulous shot. That's the shot of the innings. Shankar on one knee, absolutely timing the cover-drive and no-one moved on the off-side. What a classy drive

A Srinivas to Sushil, FOUR, tremendous drive and wide of the diving cover-point. Tossed up and creamed along the ground for a boundary

A Srinivas to Sushil, FOUR, good fielding? Not quite. As his right-leg is touching the cushion when he pushes the ball back into play. Pulled to the right of deep square, all that effort to run and then dive is spoiled by the feet. Given as four

Ramalingam Rohit to Shankar, FOUR, too much width outside off and Shankar gets off the mark with a cover-driven boundary. Got to the pitch and drove it past the fielders on the off-side

Ramalingam Rohit to Sushil, FOUR, Sushil fetches it from outside off and drags the pull wide of mid-on. Rolled his wrists and ensured that he didn't hit it in the air

Silambarasan to Akshay Srinivasan, out Caught by J Kousik!! Superb catch at backward point. Silambarasan roars. But this is all about the catch. Punched in the air and the ball's travelling but Kousik - who is fondly called as puli [which translates to Tiger in English] by his mates - moves swiftly to his right and catches it two-handed. When the elbows hit the ground, the ball doesn't pop out. Akshay Srinivasan c J Kousik b Silambarasan 9(8) [4s-2]

Silambarasan to Akshay Srinivasan, FOUR, beats the diving third man. Steered with an open bat face and the ball flew across the turf. Silambarasan needs to get it tighter on the stumps

Silambarasan to Akshay Srinivasan, FOUR, short of length on off, punched on the rise and through cover-point, raced away. Such good timing on that