The Hindu : Sport : Chennai Superstars tame Lions to triumph

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Monday, Dec 17, 2007
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Sport

Chennai Superstars tame Lions to triumph

Vijay Lokapally

Shabbir Ahmed’s hat-trick is icing on the cake; Delhi Jets finishes third

— Photo: Akhilesh Kumar

TRIUMPHANT: The Chennai Superstars team is on cloud nine after winning the ICL-Twenty20 final on Sunday.

PANCHKULA: Swinging to some peppy music and matching the stars on the ramp with their own impromptu performance in the stands, the overflowing spectators at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium provided a perfect backdrop to the inaugural Indian Cricket League’s final here on Sunday night.

Fittingly, Chennai Superstars, the most popular team even among the players, was crowned the champion with Shabbir Ahmed, once condemned for his bowling action, bowling an outstanding spell to record a hat-trick and put the game beyond the Lions. It was heartbreaking for the home crowd but Superstars was the team to watch tonight.

In a battle that was decided by the professionals, Stuart Law, Ian Harvey and Ahmed played their role to perfection and the support from the ranks saw Superstars sign off in style. Ahmed’s four wickets and a tight last over by Harvey signified the importance of team effort as Superstars won by 12 runs.

Flying start

The Superstars were off to a flying start with the ball exploding off the willow as runs came at a canter. The decision to bat first looked bang on target as Ian Harvey and G. Vignesh tore into the attack.

Daryl Tuffey was at the receiving end as Vignesh stroked the ball effortlessly, twice hitting one-bounce boundaries and then improving it with a slice that flew over point. The Lions found the going tough but gradually came back into the game once Vignesh holed out to Tuffey in trying another slog.

Chris Read continued the good work in the company of Harvey. The focus remained on pushing the pace and Read appeared the best man for the job as he concentrated on big hitting. He was on course when a run out dismissal halted the Superstars’ progress.

Arnold, a big failure

Much was expected of Russel Arnold but the Sri Lankan was a failure again, sweeping the ball to find the only fielder at deep square leg. And then Harvey’s wicket proved a dampener for Superstars. Once again the brilliant fielding seen in this tournament was the clinching point for Lions as wicketkeeper Sarabjit Singh came up with an astounding piece of work.

It was a soft nudge by Harvey to his leg and his hopeful attempt to steal a run ended in a disaster. Sarabjit sprinted to his left and even as he tumbled, he fired the ball to hit the stumps with amazing precision. Harvey stood in disbelief but his effort of 36 off 31 balls with five fours had come to a premature end.

Superstars’ innings suffered another blow when Hemang Badani was castled but Stuart Law hit a quickfire 34 off 35 balls with one four and two sixes. His approach suited Chennai Superstars since he avoided flamboyance and concentrated on straight-bat shots to give his team a chance to fight.

The Lions came back strongly through the left-arm spin of Dinesh Mongia and later a spectacular catch at covers by Tuffey to get rid of R. Sathish put a halt to Superstars’ effort to plunder runs towards the end of the innings. These were runs that came in handy in hindsight.

In the match for the third place, Delhi Jets defeated Kolkata Tigers by five wickets while Hyderabad Heroes beat Mumbai Champs by 25 runs to finish fifth.

The scores: Chennai Superstars: Ian Harvey (run out) 36, G. Vignesh c Manish Sharma b Tuffey 15, Chris Read (run out) 21, Russel Arnold c Chetan Sharma b Dinesh Mongia 5, Hemang Badani b Tuffey 20, Stuart Law (run out) 34, R. Sathish c Tuffey b Amit Uniyal 12, V. Saravanan (run out) 3, Thiru Kumaran (not out) 0; Extras (b-1, lb-4, nb-1, w-3) 9; Total (for eight wkts in 20 overs) 155.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-63, 3-70, 4-83, 5-116, 6-148, 7-153, 8-155.

Chandigarh Lions bowling: Hall 4-0-21-0, Tuffey 4-0-32-2, Uniyal 3-0-22-1, Cairns 3-0-38-0, Mongia 4-0-19-1, T.P. Singh 2-0-18-0.

Chandigarh Lions: Imran Farhat c Read b Shabbir Ahmed 4, Hamish Marshall c Read b Shabbir Ahmed 3, T.P. Singh c Tamil Kumaran b Vignesh 35, Manish Sharma c Saravanan b Thiru Kumaran 4, Dinesh Mongia b Shabbir Ahmed 21, Chris Cairns b Ian Harvey 5, Chetan Sharma lbw b Shabbir Ahmed 0, Andrew Hall (not out) 30, Sarabjit Singh c Vignesh b Ian Harvey 28; Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-2, w-8) 13; Total (for eight wkts. in 20 overs) 143.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-19, 3-30, 4-66, 5-82, 6-82, 7-84, 8-143.

Chennai Superstars bowling: Shabbir 4-0-23-4, Harvey 4-0-26-2, Tamil Kumaran 4-0-35-0, Thiru Kumaran 4-0-32-1, G. Vignesh 2-0-9-1, R. Sathish 2-0-15-0.

For Third place: Kolkata Tigers 141 for seven in 20 overs (Shibsagar Singh 33 not out) lost to Delhi Jets 145 for five in 19.1 overs (Marvan Atapattu 75 not out).

For Fifth place: Hyderabad Heroes 179 for three in 20 overs (Abdur Razzaq 67 not out, Chris Harris 49 not out, S. Nag 35, R. Khirid three for 29) beat Mumbai Champs 154 for six in 20 overs (Shreyas Khanolkar 51, Vikram Solanki 45).

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