Jets trapped Lions’ den

Delhi side loses opening match to home team by eight runs

CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh Lions won the opening match of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) against Delhi Jets by eight runs in a tight encounter that went down to the wire.

Jets captain Marvan Atappattu won the toss and chose to field. Given the initial belligerence and the Lions score standing at 88 for 2 after 10 overs, it appeared that Atapattu may have miscalculated it all. And a score of 160 plus looked very much possible with Lions captain Chris Cairns out in the middle. In fact, Cairns opened his account with a six but before he could explode any further, the left-arm dibbly-dobbly of Ali Murtaza felled both Cairns (22) and Chetan Sharma (18) in quick succession to change the wind in favour of the Jets. By 11.2 overs, the Lions were tottering at 91 for five and eventually managed to post a chaseable total of 134 runs.

Cairns was the highlight of the Lions innings treating the crowds to some vintage shot-making that made him a dreaded all-rounder in his heydays. Andrew Hall’s late stand of 31 catapulted the Lion’s total. The slow ones of Ali Murtaza and Abhishek Sharma netted them three apiece.

In response, the Jets looked jittery in the beginning as opener, Pakistan’s Taufiq Umar, fell with just four runs on the board. Captain Atapattu justified his reputation with 29, but after his departure in the 12th over, there was not much zing in the later batters though JP Yadav (20) and Abbas Ali (30) put up a valiant effort. Daryl Tuffey’s spell of 4-0-15-3 made all the difference for the Lions as the Jets were restricted to 125 for the loss of six wickets. 

On the intensity of the game, Cairns said: “The boys have sacrificed a lot to play in the tournament. They are a determined bunch and so the action is hot.” He was, however, not too enthused by the reaction of the various cricket boards towards ICL.

“The younger players are learning a lot and it is disappointing that they are being denied a platform to showcase their skills further,” he said. But he too was suspect if the ICL would actually materialise. “Logistically speaking, the ICL is a fantastic achievement. I think it’s close to a miracle,” he added.

The usefulness of better trainers and physios was evident in the quality of the fielding, which was better than what one gets to see in most domestic matches. Some of the players even looked leaner than before indicating the hard work and perspiration that has gone into preparing for the games.

“The conditioning camps have helped a lot in this regard and a lot of hard work has been put in by the trainers,” Lions coach Balwinder Singh Sandhu said.

Scorecard
Chandigarh Lions: Farhat run out (Sharma) 21, Marshall c Benkenstein b Yadav 23, Sharma lbw b Murtaza 18, Cairns b Murtaza 22, Singh st O’Brien b Sharma 1, Hall not out 31, Sodhi c Murtaza b Sharma 0, Sarabjit Singh c O’Brien b Murtaza 4, Uniyal c Atapattu b Sharma 5, Tuffey b Yadav 1, Rajesh Sharma run out (Srivastava) 2, Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 3, nb 1) 6, Total (all out; 20 overs) 134, FoW: 1-40, 2-57, 3-88, 4-89, 5-91, 6-93, 7-105, 8-116, 9-122, 10-134, Bowling: Abid Nabi 2-0-23-0, Srivastava 4-0-35-0, Jai P Yadav 4-0-26-2, Benkenstein 2-0-16-0, Murtaza 4-0-16-3, Sharma 4-0-16-3.

Delhi Jets: Taufeeq Umar b Hall 2, Mishra c Sarabjit Singh b Tuffey 18, Atapattu c Sodhi b Tuffey 29, Benkenstein c Sarabjit Singh b Tuffey 9, O’Brien b Uniyal 5, Yadav c Rajesh Sharma b Hall 21, Abbas Ali not out 30, Nabi not out 5, Extras (lb 1, w 6) 7, Total (6 wickets; 20 overs) 126, FoW: 1-4, 2-32, 3-63, 4-63, 5-73, 6-110, Bowling: Hall 4-0-26-2, Tuffey 4-0-16-3, Uniyal 3-0-20-1, Singh 4-0-25-0, Sharma 4-0-33-0, Sodhi 1-0-5-0.