Anand, centre, is the toast of his teammates after the sensational knock.
| Photograph Credit score: Particular Association
Tailender Anand Joseph turned out to be the unlikely hero as his breathtaking three-ball unbeaten 16 pulled off a heist for Thrissur Titans on the Sports activities Hub Greenfield stadium right here on Thursday. His heroics punched Titans’ ticket for the Kerala Cricket League ultimate with a one-wicket win over Trivandrum Royals.
Titans wanted 15 from the final over bowled by Rahul Chandran and the left-arm pacer piled on the stress by conceding solely two runs from the primary two deliveries. Nonetheless, Anand launched the third ball over long-off for a towering six, slammed the subsequent one previous mid-on for a 4 and sealed the win with a six over mid-wicket.
Earlier, Anand snuffed out the damaging Vishnu Vinod and in-form captain Krishna Prasad to cut back Royals to 31 for 2.
Left-arm spinner Biju Narayan’s tidy spell of two for 20 noticed Royals hunch to 93 for 5. Nonetheless, Akshay Manohar (53 n.o., 26b, 4×4, 3×6) and M. Nikhil (28 n.o., 15b, 2×4, 2×6) added 70 from 35 balls for the sixth wicket to lift the whole to 163 for 5. Titans misplaced its openers early however a 45-run third-wicket stand between Ahammed Imran (43) and Shoun Roger (23) put the chase again on observe. Captain S. Akhil (27) stored his group within the hunt whilst wickets fell commonly within the loss of life overs. It regarded like curtains for Titans when Akhil perished within the nineteenth over however Anand’s sensational knock took them house.
Calicut Globstars crushed Alleppey Ripples by 36 runs and can meet Titans within the ultimate on Saturday.
After piling up 218 for 5, due to half-centuries from Varun Nayanar (59) and Abdul Basith (53), Globstars restricted Ripples to 182 for eight.
Ripples’ chase fizzled out after Jose Perayil ended the threatening 152-run third-wicket stand between Sachin Child (72) and Okay.A. Arun (82).
The scores: Trivandrum Royals 163/5 in 20 overs (Akshay Manohar 53 n.o., Biju Narayanan 2/20, Anand Joseph 2/31) misplaced to Thrissur Titans 167/9 in 19.5 overs (Ahammed Imran 42, Rahul Chandran 3/32, M. Nikhil 2/29).
Calicut Globstars 218/5 in 20 overs (Varun Nayanar 59. Rohan Kunnummal 45, Abdul Basith 53, Ajith Raj 2/27) bt Alleppey Ripples 182/8 in 20 overs (Sachin Child 73, Okay.A. Arun 82, Jose Perayil 3/33, Ibnul Afthab 2/20, Akhil Scaria 2/39).
Printed – September 04, 2026 08:40 pm IST
