Nellai Royal Kings meet Salem Spartans in the 24th match of the Tamil Nadu Premier League 2026 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, with a 7:30 pm local start on Thursday.
Nellai arrive in good heart. They edged past Vida Kovai Kings by two wickets, reaching 163 with a single ball in hand. Rithik Easwaran led the chase with 69 off 31 balls, U Mukilesh made 26 off 25 and Athish SR added 14 off 10. Valliappan Yudheeswaran took 3/25 in his four overs, Sachin Rathi and Emmanuel Cherian took two wickets each, and NS Harish conceded just 28 from his four.
Salem are in a tougher place. They lost by 81 runs to Dindigul Dragons, finishing on 158/8 while chasing a revised target of 240 in a 15-over match. S Abishiek hit 38 off 18, Mohammed made 19 off 10 and Eshwar M struck 18 off eight, while Rajendran Vivek took 3/22 in two overs and Karthick Manikandan took 2/34. After five consecutive defeats, they need more consistency with bat and ball.
With confidence on one side and a losing run on the other, our preview favours Nellai Royal Kings.