Tigers revel on field but falter with bat

Hyderabad: Kolkata Tigers’ squandered a great opportunity to put it beyond Lahore Badshahs in the second edition of the Indian Cricket League’s Twenty20 tourney at Lal Bahadur Stadium (Fateh Maidan), Hyderabad.

Badshahs continued their splendid run in the tournament winning the game by 22 runs.

Chasing 153, Tigers started dreadfully losing four wickets in as many overs with 11 on the board. It was obvious that the net run-rate, and not win, would be Tigers’ priority from thereon.

Rohan Gavaskar, who smashed a 45-ball 46, had set himself for a final assault. But he and Craig McMillan, who contributed 30, consumed a lot of overs to get the innings back on the rails.

The two were involved in a spirited 48-run stand but they were always going to struggle to keep up with the asking rate.

Subhomoy Das’ may not be able to bring himself to see the footage of his dismissal. The opener perished trying to clip a straight ball off Azhar Mahmood outside the off-stump — a needless shot given that he hadn’t even got his eye in.

Two overs later Abhishek Jhunjhunwala was pouched at slip (off Mahmood again, who else?) for a blob.

Badshahs virtually sealed the match when the contagion spread to Lance Klusener who tried to club Mohammad Sami only to find his timber in ruins.

Deep Dasgupta has had a quiet tournament with the bat. It didn’t change when he ran himself out for two going for a cheeky single.

Badshahs fielded zealously and not for once allowed the match to drift. Spinners Arshad Khan and Mushtaq Ahmed, who led the side, gave nothing away in the middle-overs.

A late blitz by Andre Adams and Upul Chandana must have kept the crowd in good humour, for the fate of the match had been sealed long back.

Earlier, a carefully calibrated innings of 48 by man of the match Hasan Raza put Badshahs on track after Tigers had the noose on them in the early part of the innings.

If not for Nantie Hayward’s wayward final over, Tigers might well have curtailed the men in green for less than 150.

Imran Nazir has been the lynchpin of Badshahs’ batting. He struck two rasping drives in the second over as if to suggest that he was far from satiated with his efforts in this tournament.

Tigers must have felt that they reaped a bonanza when Nazir was run-out attempting a second run off Upul Chandana (of all people). They looked on the prowl when Imran Farhat departed, caught behind off Abu Nechim.

Taufeeq Umar, playing his first game in the tournament, kept the runs coming although Tigers never relaxed their stranglehold on the game.

Naved Latif (30) and Raza strung together a useful stand of 78 after Umar departed for 41 going for an expansive hit. The two licked 22 runs off Abu Nechim in the 17th over as the innings got a late momentum.

Raza’s 48 came off 37 balls and it included one six and five hits to the fence.

Tigers looked a different unit when Badshahs batted. There was a palpable sense of energy on the field. Andre Adams bowled a fine opening spell getting the cherry to slant across and beating the bat consistently. Chandana got vicious revolutions on the ball and managed to put the brakes on the scoring.

Deep Dasgupta, too, was refreshingly proactive pulling off a smart stumping and effecting two run-outs. If only they had sustained the effort in the chase.

Lahore Badshahs

Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Azhar Mahmood, Arshad Khan, Hasan Raza, Hummayun Farhat, Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Mohammed Sami, Mushtaq Ahmed, Naveed Latif, Rana-Naveed-ul-Hasan, Riaz Afridi, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shahid Nazir, Taufeeq Umar

Coach: Moin Khan

Kolkata Tigers

Craig McMillan (captain), Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abu Nechim, Andre Adams, Deep Dasgupta (Wicket-Keeper), Lance Klusener, Mihir Diwakar, Nantie Hayward, Pritam Das, Rajiv Kumar, Rohan Gavaskar, Sayed Akhlakh Ahmed, Shiv Sagar Singh, Subhomoy Das, Sujay Tarafder and Upul Chandana

Coach: Daryll Cullinan