Continuing his recent run of good form with the bat, Dindigul Dragons captain Ravichandran Ashwin smashed his maiden T20 fifty in the Tamil Nadu Premier League match against Jones TUTI Patriots on Saturday and then bagged two wickets to produce an all-round performance.

Electing to bat first at Tirunelveli, Ashwin walked out to bat at the start of the tenth over with his side at a shaky 69/3. From here, he forged a 47-run partnership with Narayan Jagadeesan that not only steadied the ship but also allowed the Dragons put on a competitive score of 173/7.

While Jagadeesan succumbed for a well-paced 53 (41), Ashwin got out for a run less, but his 52 took just 28 balls. He hit 4 fours and 3 sixes and scored at a strike rate of 185.71, the best of the innings.

It proved too much for the Patriots as they lost wickets at regular intervals with their innings eventually folding at 133/9 and handing the Dragons a 40-run win. While the damage had already been done by Ramalingam Rohit's early strikes, Ashwin, skipper of Kings XI Punjab in the VIVO Indian Premier League, chipped in with scalps of his own ending the day at a stringent 2/5 in his two overs.

Ashwin has been in good nick with the bat of late, scoring 197 runs in three matches for Nottinghamshire at an average of 39.40, rolling that momentum in the TNPL where he has smashed a 19-ball 37 against Chepauk Super Gillies and a seven-ball 16 against Siechem Madurai Panthers before his fifty against Dindigul Dragons.

Related tags:

Punjab Kings