Tigers clinch nail-biting thriller against Sindhis by 7 wickets
SHARJAH: Bengal Tigers won a nail-biting thriller against the newcomers Sindhis by seven wickets in the last ball in the tournament’s highest successful run-chase on Thursday.
After winning the toss, Tigers invited Sindhis to bat and the newcomers amassed 134 for 4 in what looked like an easy win, powered by Anton Devcich’s swashbuckling 64 runs off 23 balls that included six fours and five sixes, well backed by opener Samiullah Shinwari’s 44 off 26 balls powered by four bounderies and two sixes.
Mohammad Nabi took three wickets for 20 runs in his two overs.
Tigers responded their innings with explosive start with star striker Jason Roy and his opening partner Sunil Narine going after the Sindhis bowlers. The Tigers continued to roar despite Narine’s out at 61 when Rutherford and Roy continued their offensive batting. The pair reached 90 in the 7th over, and after Rutherford’s exit at 106 runs, the Tigers were in a commanding position with higher run rate than lower required rate.
Mohammad Nabi and Captain Sam Billings closed the gap, after Roy lost the wicket when the score board ticked 123, with the Tigers needing 12 runs from 10 balls.
Tigers eventually equalled the score in 9.5 balls helped by two dropped catches, requiring them to score 1 to win from 1 ball. Nabi hit a boundary to win the match at the last ball with seven wickets in hand.
Roy, Man of the match, top scored for the winning team, hitting 64 off 35 balls with five sixes and six fours, well supported by Narine hitting 22 in only six balls compreised of three sixes.
Nabi gave the finishing touches with 25 off 10 balls including one six and three fours.
The win repositioned Bengal Tigers to third place in five matches with six points from three wins.
PAKHTOONS GO ON TOP
An explosive batting display by the Pakthoon cheered the crowd in almost every ball when they overcame a 125-run target by losing only two wickets and four balls to spare against the Maratha Arabians in the 18th match of the second T10 League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Colin Ingram hit 42 off 13 balls including five sixes and two boundaries, well supported by Cameron Delport’s 36 from 23 balls that included two fours and two sixes to score the winning run to seal the victory for their team.
However, it was Shafiqullah Shafiq who set the stage perfectly for the team Pakhtoon with 35 off 16 balls peppered with four sixes to help his team-mates go aggressively and hit the winning score.
The match, which was thoroughly enjoyed by a large crowd, cheering for both the teams - showed that competitive score and a good run-chase has its takers in Sharjah.
However the high-score and the high run-chase was possible due to a few dropped catches on both the sides.
Earlier, Arabians scored 125 for the loss of six wickets, partly helped by at least three dropped catches that could have restricted the Arabians to a much lower score if caught. Nazibullah Zadran top scored with 36 off 25 deliveries led the charge with three sixes followed by Kamran Akmal’s 25 off 15 balls that included some explosive batting display.
They were well supported by Brendon Taylor who added 23 off 12 balls and Rashid Khan’s 21 from just seven deliveries comprised of two sixes and two fours.
With this win, Pakhtoon now lead the point table with eight points from five matches, followed by the newcomers Northern Warriors who scored six points from four encounters. The loss puts Arabians at the fifth position among the eight teams.
Meanwhile, in another match of the day, Punjabi Legends who have been playing poorly from the last few matches, found the Rajputs’ attacks too strong to stand in front of and some deadly pieces of bowling led by Munaf Patel and Tymal Mills were extremely heavy on their batsmen.
Legends scored 105 runs losing six wickets while chasing Rajputs’ modest total of 117 runs for the loss of five wickets in ten overs.
Umar Akmal and Philip Salt were the highest scorer from Legends, both hitting 34 runs in 19 and 17 balls respectively, however, short of meeting the total needed to win.
After Akmal’s wicket, the team started to lose hope and gradually the team’s batting line ran out of steam. Only Salt’s batting made the team going. Among the six wickets of Legends, two were taken by Patel, two by Mills and one each by Carlos Brathwaite and Sayed Shirzad respectively.
Earlier, Rajputs’ captain Brendon Mccullum led his team, with 28 off 15 balls including one six and three boundaries while other batsmen, Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Shahzad, Brathwaite contributed quite handsomely, all scoring above 20 runs to power their team to make 117 runs losing five wickets.