An enthusiastic bunch of rookies and rising stars from the Thrissur Titans took their supporters through some nerve-wracking moments before clinching the Kerala Cricket League title on Saturday.
From giving opportunities to 18-year-old K.R. “The average age of the team is 23, which is the lowest in the tournament. Akhil, is 35. We didn’t want to leave 15 or 16 runs to chase in the final over.
When the Titans lost three chases in a row during the league stage, it became apparent that opposing teams fancied setting targets for them. “We weren’t too worried when we lost three chases in a row during the league phase. In the final, we had the chase under control, but when we lost a couple of quick wickets, the instructions to the players were to take risks and go for big shots. We kept the requirement down to four, and we won,” the coach concluded.
As the young guns failed to close out the match comfortably, it was left to the older and wiser captain M.S. Akhil to seal victory by slamming Ibnul Afthab for a boundary with four balls to spare in the final. The Titans’ triumph was a strong vindication of the management’s policy of promoting young talent. Rohit — the youngest player in the tournament — in high-pressure knockout matches to handing a debut to greenhorn pacer Muhammed Irshad in a crucial league match, the Thrissur management was willing to take risks. The players responded by executing their assigned roles perfectly. Our oldest player, M.S. We made him the captain after being impressed with his leadership skills, and he did a pretty good job. At Thrissur Titans, we have always believed in encouraging young talent, even if it meant taking a gamble. But it was not as though we picked players at random at the auction. Sunil Kumar, the Titans coach. However, the Titans consistently found clutch players to finish off games. Mohammed Enaan, A.K. Arjun, Anand Joseph and Akhil all turned out to be last-over heroes for Thrissur. I had faith in the boys.
We did the scouting and zeroed in on players who we thought would fit into our setup,” said S.