Dindigul Dragons vs Salem Spartans, 26th Match - Live Cricket Score, Commentary

So, that’s it from our side. Dindigul Dragons will be immensely happy as tonight’s win has meant that they have booked a spot in Qualifier 1 against the Lyca Kovai Kings. A top-two finish means that a team can have two shots at reaching the finals. Tomorrow, Siechem Madurai Panthers will take on IDream Tiruppur Tamizhans. A win for Madurai will lead them to seal the final playoff spot but a loss for them will mean that Chepauk Super Gillies will probably qualify based on their superior net run-rate. Tiruppur only have a negligible chance even if they win handsomely tomorrow as their net run-rate is well below that of Chepauk. We hope you enjoyed our coverage. Till then, goodbye and cheers!

Baba Indrajith | Player of the Match: Going into the match, we felt that it was an important game. Reaching the top-2 gives us the extra cushion and it went well tonight. If you look at the starting of the tournament, many said the bowling was strong but the batting was full of youngsters but lots of them have performed which is good going forward. With the wind a big factor, the plan was to send a left and right hand combo at 3-4, that's why the order changed. If you get through the powerplay, it's up to you to get out. I did not play lofted shots till after I crossed 50, concentrated on playing along the ground which I feel is a good sign.

Abhishek Tanwar | Salem captain: I thought we were 20 runs short tonight due to the wind and the wicket factor. 180 was a par score on this. The wind was stronger than the other days. We failed due to our unsettled batting order but the last 3 games the batting has done well, so we will go with the same for the next year. We have a lot of youngsters, apart from me and Kaushik Gandhi, next year we will do well. Sunny Sandhu, Sachin Rathi and Selva were the positives and even in the nets Sandhu was playing well, so the plan was to send him up the order in the last few games.

Vimal Khumar: Confident we will get through in the first attempt [on getting 2 chances to reach the final]. Having Inder anna at the non-striker's end is very good, he keeps telling me what to do. Does not matter who the opponent is, we will follow the process.

22:35 Local Time, 17:05 GMT, 22:35 IST: A clinical victory eventually for Dindigul Dragons with 10 balls to spare! 160 on this good batting deck was 15-20 runs short probably and that has proved to be the case for Salem Spartans. Sunny Sandhu nipped out Shivam Singh early but after that, Baba Indrajith and Vimal Khumar mixed caution with aggression to perfection. The skipper was the aggressor and that helped the latter to ease into his innings. An error in judgement resulted in the opener's dismissal in the form of a run-out but Indrajith kept going strong. A cameo from Ganesh helped DDG's cause and although he departed against the run of play, the run-chase was well under control. The DDG skipper ensured there were no further hiccups and finished the game off with two boundaries. Stick around for the presentations...

Sunny Sandhu to Indrajith, FOUR, Indrajith finishes off in style! Full ball outside off, Indrajith drills it down the ground for a rocketing boundary. A top-class knock from the DDG skipper and he has ensured a top-2 finish for his side

Sunny Sandhu to Indrajith, SIX, that's a top-quality shot! Slower back of a length ball cutting into Indrajith, He stands tall and pulls it with aplomb over deep mid-wicket for a maximum, DDG are only 2 runs away now

Abhishek Tanwar to Indrajith, 1 run, fuller length ball, drilled to extra cover for a tight single

Abhishek Tanwar to Indrajith, SIX, Indrajith is playing a match-winning knock! He premeditates and walks across his stumps. Gets it in the zone. It's a full toss and he scoops it over the keeper to get it over the ropes again

Abhishek Tanwar to Boopathi Kumar, 1 run, very full ball outside off, Boopathi Kumar squeezes it out but can't beat the backward point fielder

Abhishek Tanwar to Indrajith, 1 run, full toss angling in, Indrajith whips it towards deep backward square leg for a single

Abhishek Tanwar to Indrajith, SIX, shot of elegance! That will certainly settle the nerves in the DDG camp, Indrajith backs away a bit. It's a fuller length ball and he goes inside out over wide long-off. The timing is sublime and the ball sails over the ropes

Abhishek Tanwar to Boopathi Kumar, 1 run, in the blockhole outside off, squeezed out to extra cover and the batters take off. A direct hit at the bowler's end might have caught Boopathi Kumar short but the shy misses

Abhishek Tanwar [2.0-0-14-0] is back into the attack

Sunny Sandhu to Boopathi Kumar, 1 run, fullish ball, driven to sweeper cover for a run to retain strike

Sunny Sandhu to Boopathi Kumar, 2 runs, miscommunication but no harm done! Boopathi Kumar drives this away towards sweeper cover and calls for a couple. The batters almost collide midway while taking the second run but get off each other's way in the nick of time, The throw at the bowler's end is wayward and Indrajith survives

Boopathi Kumar, left handed bat, comes to the crease

Sunny Sandhu to Ganesh, out Bowled!! A twist in the game perhaps! On a length on leg stump, Ganesh moves inside the line and tries to tuck it away but misses as the ball rolls past the keeper. Initially, it looked like it would be a boundary but Ganesh started walking. The replay showed that it had clipped the leg stump. Ganesh b Sunny Sandhu 19(13) [4s-1 6s-1]

Sunny Sandhu to Ganesh, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Sunny Sandhu to Ganesh, wide, slower one but outside the tramline, it has been wided