Anand, centre, is the toast of his teammates after the sensational knock.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Tailender Anand Joseph turned out to be the unlikely hero as his breathtaking three-ball unbeaten 16 pulled off a heist for Thrissur Titans at the Sports Hub Greenfield stadium here on Thursday. His heroics punched Titans’ ticket for the Kerala Cricket League final with a one-wicket win over Trivandrum Royals.
Titans needed 15 from the last over bowled by Rahul Chandran and the left-arm pacer piled on the pressure by conceding only two runs from the first two deliveries. However, Anand launched the third ball over long-off for a towering six, slammed the next one past mid-on for a four and sealed the win with a six over mid-wicket.
Earlier, Anand snuffed out the dangerous Vishnu Vinod and in-form captain Krishna Prasad to reduce Royals to 31 for two.
Left-arm spinner Biju Narayan’s tidy spell of two for 20 saw Royals slump to 93 for five. However, Akshay Manohar (53 n.o., 26b, 4×4, 3×6) and M. Nikhil (28 n.o., 15b, 2×4, 2×6) added 70 from 35 balls for the sixth wicket to raise the total to 163 for five. Titans lost its openers early but a 45-run third-wicket stand between Ahammed Imran (43) and Shoun Roger (23) put the chase back on track. Captain S. Akhil (27) kept his team in the hunt even as wickets fell regularly in the death overs. It looked like curtains for Titans when Akhil perished in the 19th over but Anand’s sensational knock took them home.
Calicut Globstars crushed Alleppey Ripples by 36 runs and will meet Titans in the final on Saturday.
After piling up 218 for five, thanks to half-centuries from Varun Nayanar (59) and Abdul Basith (53), Globstars restricted Ripples to 182 for eight.
Ripples’ chase fizzled out after Jose Perayil ended the threatening 152-run third-wicket stand between Sachin Baby (72) and K.A. Arun (82).
The scores: Trivandrum Royals 163/5 in 20 overs (Akshay Manohar 53 n.o., Biju Narayanan 2/20, Anand Joseph 2/31) lost to Thrissur Titans 167/9 in 19.5 overs (Ahammed Imran 42, Rahul Chandran 3/32, M. Nikhil 2/29).
Calicut Globstars 218/5 in 20 overs (Varun Nayanar 59. Rohan Kunnummal 45, Abdul Basith 53, Ajith Raj 2/27) bt Alleppey Ripples 182/8 in 20 overs (Sachin Baby 73, K.A. Arun 82, Jose Perayil 3/33, Ibnul Afthab 2/20, Akhil Scaria 2/39).
Published – September 04, 2026 08:40 pm IST
