ICL League: Dhruv Mahajan stars in Delhi Giants victory

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ICL League: Dhruv Mahajan stars in Delhi Giants victory

Delhi Giants lead by Marvan Attapattu clicked as a team and won the crucial tie against Hyderabad Heroes. Chasing a target of 137 runs in 20 over��s, Hyderabad Heroes managed to score 130 runs, losing the match in a thrilling encounter.

CJ: Abhishek Behl

Tue, Mar 25, 2008 20:41:50 IST

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ICL Match in Gurgaon :

PLAYING TO win at any cost, Delhi Giants lead by Marvan Attapattu clicked as a team and won the crucial tie against the star studded Hyderabad Heroes at Tau Devi Lal stadium in Gurgaon on March 24.

Chasing a target of 137 runs in 20 over’s, Hyderabad Heroes managed to score 130 runs in the stipulated twenty over’s, losing the match in a thrilling encounter. The match went to the wire and was decided in the penultimate over; Heroes had to score 15 runs of the last over, but managed only seven.

Keeping his nerve in the crucial last over, Dhruv Mahajan of Delhi Giants bowled a tight line and scalped two important wickets winning the match for his side. Mahajan, who hails from Jammu, was declared the man of the match, for his heroics both with ball and bat as his 36 runs in 33 balls proved crucial for the Giants.

Earlier winning the toss, Delhi team got a brisk start with both Avishka Gunawardene and Monish Mishra playing some delectable shots. Mishra was caught in the fourth over by Rayudu on the bowling of Justin Kemp, who bowled a tight line.

This brought Dhruv Mahajan to the crease, which came handy at the right moment and justified Attapatu’s gamble in playing him in the crucial tie. After waiting on the bench for five matches on the trot, Mahajan played sensibly and scored 36 runs hitting four boundaries and a six.

Looking all set for a half-century, he lost his wicket due to a momentary loss of concentration, attempting a huge swipe off Reddy, trying to send the ball out of the ground, when the score read 83 in 12.3 over’s.

Avishka Gunawardene, playing well for his 28, followed suit in the next over, trying to play a big shot, he was stumped on the bowling of Nicky Boje.

The fall of these two wickets triggered a collapse as the new batsmen failed to cope with fast and accurate bowling by former Pakistan international Abdul Razzaq. Razzaq managed to break the partnership developing between Abbas Ali and Abhinav Bali, when he managed to get Bali’s wicket.

On the last bowl of his over, he delivered a beauty to castle JP Yadav, who mannage to score 1 run during his brief stay on the crease. Razaq also claimed important wickets of Marvan Attapatu and Sudhindra in the eighteenth over. Due to his quality bowling, the Giants were restricted to 137 runs in 20 over, a target which looked achievable till Hyderabad Heroes started their inning.

Heroes’ inning began on a disastrous note, with Shashank Nag, Anirudh Singh and Ambatti Rayudu falling prey to the accurate bowling of Sudheendra. They were responsible for their down fall owing to poor shot selection and the scoreboard reading 15 runs for 3 wickets, when Nicky Boje came to the crease.

However, the South African too fell cheaply, caught by Mahajan on the bowling of Murtaza, adding just two runs. At 17 for 4 wickets, it was left to hard hitter Justin Kemp and Stuart Binny to resurrect the Hyderabad inning.

Kemp was middling the ball well and scored in all parts of the ground and both the batsmen went on to add 61 runs for the fifth wicket, taking the fight to Delhi camp. Stuart Binny also played some wonderful shots forcing Attapatu to bring his main trump card Shane Bond into the attack.

The move was immediately rewarded with the wicket of Kemp, who snicked while trying to steer the ball to third man. Captain Abdul Razzaq, who came to the crease, could not do much as he was caught off the crease, while playing a drive on the bowling of JP Yadav.

However, despite the minor setback, the Hyderabad Heroes remained in the chase thanks to the duo heroics performance by Binny and Chris Harris, who played a nice little cameo towards the end.

Binny went on to score quick 50 runs in 41 balls with five hits to the fence, while Harris hoisted fellow countryman Bond to a huge six in his 20 runs.

With Hyderabad team needing 15 runs in last six balls, Stuart Binny was caught on the first ball of Mahajan’s over on long on. On the very next bowl, Harris holed up one to Sharma, effectively ending the hope of a Hyderabad victory.

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