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It’s Heroes vs. Badshahs

V.V. Subrahmanyam

AHMEDABAD: Defending champion Hyderabad Heroes pulled off a three-wicket win with three balls to spare over Royal Bengal Tigers in the second semifinals of the ICL Twenty20 cricket championship at the Sardar Patel Stadium (Navrangpura) here on Tuesday night.

Chasing 162 in 20 overs, Heroes coach Steve Rixon’s gamble of shuffling the batting order seemed to have misfired at one stage. But, thanks to Stuart Binny’s breezy knock (45, 26b, 2x4, 4x6), it romped home to ensure a repeat clash with Lahore Badshahs in the best of three finals with the first one scheduled for Thursday.

Quite fittingly, captain Chris Harris swung Upul Chandana to signal the victory for Heroes.

Lance Klusener struck twice in the sixth over removing openers Jimmy Maher (14) and Ibrahim Khaleel (32). Soon Ambati Rayudu (14) and Abdul Razzaq (26) departed in quick succession to reduce Heroes to 89 for four in 11.2 overs. But Heroes stayed cool under pressure to wrap up the match.

Earlier, Tigers recovered from a precarious 10 for three to post a challenging 161 for four thanks to the brilliance of the 37-year-old Lance Klusener (78 n.o., 54b, 4x4, 4x6) and Rohan Gavaskar (74, 47b, 6x4, 4x6).

By the fifth over, Tigers was reeling with the top three — Deep Das Gupta (1), Hamish Marshall (5) and Craig McMillan (1) — back in the pavilion.

Fast bowlers Syed Shahabuddin and Abdul Razzaq struck the early blows.

Klusener and Rohan put on 145 runs for the fourth wicket in 94 balls.

The scores: Semifinals: Royal Bengal Tigers 161 for four in 20 overs (Lance Klusener 78 n.o., Rohan Gavaskar 74) lost to Hyderabad Heroes 162 for seven in 19.3 overs (Ibrahim Khaleel 32, Stuart Binny 45).

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