STYX were crowned as the champions of TCC Taped Ball Premier Tournament Spring 2019 on July 13th 2019 defeating Superkings by 10 wickets and thereby claiming their maiden TCC Taped Ball Tournament. This was the second consecutive finals for STYX in the Premier tournament and the first finals appearance for Superkings. Both the teams came up with spirited performances in the playoffs and had huge wins to reach the finals. STYX finished 6th after the first round of matches and rolled over their opponents in the Quarterfinals and Semis. Superkings finished 9th after the first round of matches and had very strong performances against higher ranked teams to reach the finals.
Superkings won the toss on a beautiful Saturday morning and had no hesitation in electing to bat first. They headed off to a great start with Ajit and Rishi scoring 24/0 in 4 overs. Styx captain Raj Nair drew the first blood by getting Ajit’s wicket in the fifth over. Ramesh was the next to depart for a stunning delivery from Rajendran Nair, caught effortlessly by Debasish. They had lost two quick wickets and were in trouble at 30/2 after 7 overs. Situation got worse when Sandeep claimed the wicket of Vinod in the seventh over and Suresh Kumar was runout by Raj Nair in the same over. The maiden wicket over from Sandeep Kodak put Superkings under pressure at 30/4 after 8 overs. The pressure started showing as wickets started tumbling and Styx bowlers started taking control. The pace duo of Raj Nair and Sandeep mowed through the SuperKings top order restricting them to 33 for the loss of 5 wickets at the innings break of 10 overs. Second over after the break, Ramesh got the wicket of Kunal with yet another brilliant catching display by Debasish Das. Saahil and Ram tried to stabilize the innings for Superkings at 41/6 after 12 overs. Just when things were looking better, Raj Nair struck again, this time with two wickets in the same over to dismiss Ram and Abhijit. Soon after, Raj Singh dismissed Mehmood in the eighteenth over. Following which, Raj Nair wrapped up the Superkings innings by getting Saahil caught behind, for a stunning catch from Debasish. Superkings were all out for 70 in 18.2 overs with Saahil and Rishi being the highest scorers at 13 followed by Ajit at 12. For STYX, Raj Nair took 5 wickets, Sandeep took 2 wickets, Ramesh and Raj Singh took 1 wicket each. Wicketkeeper Debasish Das took 4 outstanding catches behind the stumps. Overall it was a top-class bowling and fielding performance by Styx to restrict Superkings to a low total.
Superkings took the field to defend 70 runs against a strong batting lineup of Styx. The openers Raj Singh and Adithya started off pretty well and dominated the Superkings bowling throughout. The openers were striking at a run rate of around 7 and chased down the total in the 11th over. Styx won the game by 10 wickets with Raj Singh scoring 37 runs and Adithya scoring 29 runs.
The game was followed by presentation ceremony hosted and facilitated by Jagadish Biradar of TCC. Abhijit Mehta, captain of Superkings was awarded the runners up trophy. Raj Nair, captain of Styx was awarded the championship trophy. Raj Nair was awarded the man of the match for the five-wicket haul and a run out in the finals.
Tournament awards were also presented during the presentation ceremony. Ashwin Ravi of Rattlers-Spartans was awarded the best batsman with 212 runs. Omar Bangash of Champions CC was the best bowler with 19 wickets. Subramanya Upadhaya of Cougars was the best allrounder with 107 runs and 14 wickets. Best wicketkeeper was awarded to Swaroop CK of Cougars for 20 catches. Players from Styx received three special awards, Rajendran Nair for a century, Raj Singh for dual centuries, Ramesh Kumar for a hat-trick. Raj Singh also won the award for the MVP of the tournament.