The Hindu : Sport : Easy for Delhi Jets

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Saturday, Dec 08, 2007
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Easy for Delhi Jets

Vijay Lokapally

— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

FINE KNOCK: Paul Nixon of Delhi Jets in action against Mumbai Champs in their ICL match at Panchkula on Friday.

PANCHKULA: Brian Lara’s third failure in the Indian Cricket League was a crushing blow, not just to his team, but the organisers as well.

The icon of modern batsmanship came a cropper on a chilling and windy day at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here, lasting a mere five balls for three runs; his aggregate in three matches being seven. His attempted glide nestled nicely in wicketkeeper Paul Nixon’s gloves, giving seamer T. P. Sudhindra his most memorable moment in life.

Mumbai Champs, set a target of 164, had to win the match to improve its chances of a berth in the final but Lara and his men failed to raise their game. Delhi Jets, with valuable inputs from coaches Madan Lal and Ashok Malhotra, did nothing wrong and won convincingly by 24 runs. The lone resistance from the Champs’ camp came from Dheeraj Jadhav (42).

Early strikes by left-arm spinner Avinash Yadav compelled Delhi to adopt aggressive measures to push the rate and lay the foundation for a match-winning total. The left-handed Taufiq Umar played and missed repeatedly but when he connected the ball stayed hit.

With the ball seaming a lot, stroke-making was bound to be tough. Umar realised it fast but failed to adapt. His innovations did not work this evening and he fell to an edge that flew to short third man.

Delhi Jets, electing to bat, needed a racy start but some tight bowling gave little room to the batsmen. At the halfway stage, Delhi Jets was 64 for three but the batsmen did not appear too convincing. After Umar departed, much was expected from Sri Lankan ace Marwan Atapattu. He flattered to deceive. Atapattu, who likes to graft, picked the flight early to hit a six off Nathan Astle but missed a full toss next ball to head for the dressing room.

Fine spell

Yadav’s parsimonious spell ended in a disaster when he was clobbered for 25 runs in his third over by Dale Benkenstein and Paul Nixon. Some unorthodox strokes and a couple of bold blows by Nixon left Yadav demoralised. The left-armer could do little as even the edges fell beyond the reach of the fielders. Nixon belted Astle for a six and Benkenstein welcomed Rakesh Patel in his second spell with another straight six. Mumbai Champs came apart in the span of three overs and Delhi Jets was now firmly on way as runs came in a torrent.

Nixon and Benkenstein were unstoppable, putting on 65 runs off the last 27 balls. Nixon’s blazing 39 off 14 balls contained two fours and four sixes while Benkenstein hit four fours and one six.

The scores: Delhi Jets 163 for five in 20 overs (P. Nixon 39 n.o., D. Benkenstein 38 n.o., S. Abbas Ali 25) bt Mumbai Champs 139 for nine in 20 overs (D.j Jadhav 42, A. Sharma three for 34, T.P. Sudhindra three for 35).

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