The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Hyderabad Heroes is champion

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Hyderabad Heroes is champion

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Hyderabad Heroes ‘bowled’ out Lahore Badshahs in an exciting, second final to clinch the Edelweiss 20s Challenge Twenty-20 cricket championship with a 2-0 win in the three-match final at the floodlit Lal Bahadur Stadium here on Sunday.

It was a fitting finale for the capacity crowd as the host kept its nerve in tense moments after making a mess of an achievable target, to be bowled out for 130 despite a fine knock by Ambati Rayudu (46 not out, 39 balls, 4 x 4, 1 x6).

Rana excels

Fast bowler Rana Naved-ul-Hasan struck thrice in the 18th over — having Stuart Binny caught and bowled, cleaning up Anirudh Singh and getting an lbw verdict against captain Chris Harris to leave Hyderabad in dire straits at 107 for seven in 17.5 overs. But when Rayudu pulled Azhar Mehmood for a six in the 19th over, it looked as if he would see the team through. That was not to be despite an erratic final over from Rana, who clean bowled Indra Sekhar Reddy to signal the end of the innings, with a five-wicket haul.

And in the exciting ‘bowl out’ with each team employing five bowlers to strike at the stumps, Hyderabad brains-trust showed presence of mind by opting for slow bowlers who stuck to their task.

While Nicky Boje, I.S. Reddy, Chris Harris were on target, Alfred Absolom missed it. For Lahore — all three — Rana Naved, Shahid Nazir and Naved Latif fumbled. Hyderabad emerged winners with a 3-0 ‘bowl out’ verdict to collect the winner’s purse of Rs. 2 crores and the runner-up had to be content with Rs. 1 crore.

Earlier, left-arm spinner I.S. Reddy capped a remarkable finish to his campaign with a splendid spell of four for 19 from four overs which helped Hyderabad Heroes restrict Lahore Badshahs to a modest 130 for nine in 20 overs.

The scores: Lahore Badshahs 130 for nine in 20 overs (Imran Nazir 30, Imran Farhat 30, Indra Sekhar Reddy four for 19, Stuart Binny three for nine) lost to Hyderabad Heroes 130 in 19.4 overs (Ambati Rayudu 46 not out, Naved-ul-Hasan Rana five for 22). Hyderabad Heroes won 3-0 via ‘bowl out’.

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