Legendary West Indies opener Chris Gayle nonetheless continues to instil concern in opposition bowlers. This was amply in show within the Legends League Cricket (LLC) Masters at Doha’s Asian Town Cricket Stadium on Wednesday, as Gayle’s attribute blitz paved the best way for the World Giants’ first win of the event as they beat India Maharajas by three wickets.
The hard-hitting opener smashed 57 runs off 46 balls with 9 boundaries and a six and was the standout performer for his workforce. However, barring Gayle and Shane Watson, who performed a 16-ball 26 cameo, not one of the World Giants batsmen discovered their footing and after Gayle’s dismissal, the Giants made heavy climate of their 137-run goal. In the tip, they obtained residence with eight deliveries to spare.
Earlier, the World Giants received the toss and elected to discipline. India Maharajas had a special set of openers as Robin Uthappa opened with Manvinder Bisla. Gautam Gambhir, who had opened with Uthappa and placed on an unbeaten 159 runs match-winning opening partnership towards Asia Lions within the fourth match, was rested. In his absence, it was Harbhajan Singh who led the workforce.
The Giants bowlers have been led by an immaculate Brett Lee, who gave away simply 18 runs off his three overs and scalped three wickets. He was ably supported by Zimbabwe’s Chris Mpofu (2/22). This allowed the Giants to limit the Maharajas to 136/9 of their allotted 20 overs. Suresh Raina top-scored for the Harbhajan Singh-led aspect with a 41-ball 49.
The first boundary of the match got here from the blade of Bisla, who was the hero of Kolkata Knight Riders’ Indian Premier League (IPL) title triumph within the 2012 remaining when he hit a glowing 89. In this match, he went on to hit Lee’s fourth ball of the primary over to mid-wicket. Left-arm spinner Samit Patel, who bowled the second over, had Tuesday’s match hero Uthappa out, with the fourth ball by forcing him to hit skipper Aaron Finch at mid-on for 5.
Bisla went on to hit the primary ball of the third over from Lee to mid-wicket for an additional boundary and likewise hit Patel to the backward sq. fence for his third boundary. Mpofu had Reetinder Sodhi out shortly with the primary ball of the fifth over by forcing him to prime edge a pull into the fingers of wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk for 2.
Raina started with a boundary off the primary ball he confronted by edging Mpofu previous the keeper. In the sixth over, Raina hit Monty Panesar for a six after coming down the monitor. At the tip of the powerplay, the scoreboard learn 42/2.
Gayle bowled a neat seventh over to give away solely six runs however left-arm spinner Panesar, who bowled the eighth over, was hit for 2 successive sixes by Raina. The first six was hit to deep mid-wicket and the subsequent was a straight six. Tino Best tied down the batters making a gift of solely singles and yielding simply 4 runs. When Mpofu additionally gave away solely 5 runs from the tenth over, India Maharajas have been 73/2, needing some huge hits to speed up the run circulate.
Best generated good tempo off the wicket within the eleventh over whereas Panesar struck within the twelfth over to get Bisla to play a lower shot and edge to wicketkeeper van Wyk for 36. His 34-ball knock had 4 boundaries.
Yusuf Pathan escaped being caught at deep further cowl by Ross Taylor off Best on the rating of three. Pathan was not fortunate on the fourth ball of that over when he top-edged a well-directed brief supply to Lee at deep sq. leg whereas going for a pull. Best eliminated Stuart Binny with the subsequent supply having him caught by Finch at first slip.
Ricardo Powell, who changed Monty Panesar because the impression participant, would have gotten Raina out at 37 had Finch at cowl held on to the highly effective shot. India Maharajas went previous the 100-run mark within the fifteenth over via a six by Irfan Pathan off Best over deep mid-wicket. Irfan additionally hit Powell over long-on for an additional six. Raina’s sensible knock of 49 got here to an finish when he pulled Lee to Taylor within the deep within the nineteenth over. His 41-ball knock had two boundaries and three sixes.
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Lee additionally obtained Mohammad Kaif caught by Hashim Amla at mid-wicket on the subsequent ball. With the final ball, Lee additionally pressured Irfan to edge a ball to the wicketkeeper for 25. In the final over Mpofu gave away simply two runs and likewise had Harbhajan caught at long-on by Finch for 2. In the final 5 overs, India Maharajas might rating solely 32 runs and misplaced 4 wickets.
In reply, Gayle gave an aggressive begin by hitting Irfan’s first supply of the primary over for a boundary via the covers and likewise hitting the third ball for an additional boundary over mid-off. He additionally cracked Harbhajan’s fourth and fifth supply of the second over for boundaries — first via the covers and subsequent via cowl level. Opener Amla on one escaped being caught at mid-on by Binny to the primary ball of the third over from Irfan because the ball popped out throughout a diving try.
Gayle continued to decide boundaries with ease smashing Irfan for 2 boundaries to deep further cowl and one other to third man. At the rating of 42, Amla obtained out leg earlier than to Dinda for six. Shane Watson joined Gayle who continued to execute his highly effective photographs. In the sixth over, he smashed Dinda for a boundary, a six and two extra consecutive boundaries to take 19 runs off the over. The powerplay yielded 72 runs.
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Pravin Tambe who was launched for the seventh over was not spared by Watson who picked boundaries off his first and final deliveries. Gayle raced to his half-century in 26 balls with 9 boundaries and a six. Watson turned the second wicket to fall when Tambe clean-bowled him for 26 with the second ball of the ninth over. Harbhajan additionally had Finch who went for a sweep and top-edged to Tambe for 5. In the final ten overs, World Giants wanted 38 runs.
Tambe bowled a superb eleventh over making a gift of only one run, beating a well-set Gayle repeatedly. Taylor, going for a slog shot off Yusuf, fell to a superb catch by Raina within the deep for seven. Patel hit back-to-back boundaries off Raina within the fifteenth over however he struck to entice Gayle in entrance with the final ball of the over for 57.
Yusuf clean-bowled Patel for 12 when 12 runs have been wanted. Ricardo Powell obtained run out for 3 and ultimately, Morne van Wyk hit the profitable boundary off Irfan Pathan.
The Asia Lions are presently prime of the group with 4 factors, whereas India Maharajas and World Giants are No 2 and No 3 respectively, with each on two factors, however the Maharajas are forward on internet run price. The Giants have a match to go towards the Asia Lions and a giant win will assist them leap to the highest place. The workforce ending on the prime of the chart will qualify immediately for the ultimate whereas the opposite two groups will play an Eliminator to ebook a berth within the remaining.
Brief scores: India Maharajas 136 for 9 in 20 overs (Suresh Raina 49, Manvinder Bisla 36; Brett Lee 3 for 18, Chris Mpofu 2 for 22) misplaced to World Giants 139 for 7 in 18.4 overs (Chris Gayle 57, Shane Watson 26; Yusuf Pathan 2 for 14) by 3 wickets.
With IANS inputs.
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