Arun Karthick's splendid Knock of 80 from 45 balls led Madurai Panthers to seal a victory against the Ruby Trichy Warriors in Tirunelveli on Sunday.

Arun Karthik (inset and right) plays a shot during his knock of 80 from 45 balls

Thirunelveli:

Before the start of chase, it looked a tricky total on this pitch. But Panthers brought their professional game to the fore. 

Arun Karthik and Sargunam were fantastic. Arun ensured he stayed till the end and paced the chase to perfection, in doing so he also notched up his best score in TNPL. 

He was assisted by Sargunam who played a blinder at number three. 

Trichy Warriors were ordinary with the ball, they just couldn't pick up the wickets at the regular intervals and Panthers coasted along for a victory.

By scoring 75 off the last 6 overs, Trichy posted an above-par score. The openers got them off to a good start with a fifty partnership.

Madurai Panthers' Rahil Shah bowled an impressive spell by knocking out the top three batsmen of the Ruby Trichy Warriors to restrict their score in the first ten overs.

But, once Saravanan and Suresh Kumar settled in, it was carnage. They added 92 runs in 50 balls for the fourth wicket, with both batsmen striking it above 160. 

Saravanan notched up his fifty off the penulltimate ball. Madurai were sloppy in the field and that would have costed them around 20 runs.

Brief Scores: Madurai Panthers 176/5 (Arun Karthik 80*, Sargunam 70, Ganapathy 2/28) beat Ruby Trichy Warriors (175) by 5 wickets