Giants pip Heroes in a thriller

Skipper Harris’ heroic effort goes in vain as Hyderabad go down by solitary run

PANCHKULA: Skipper Chris Harris gave it his all but Hyderabad Heroes failed to seal a semifinal berth, losing to Delhi Giants by one run in an edge of the seat thriller in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) 20s Challenge.

The left-hander struck a six and a four off the last two deliveries of the match when two sixes were needed for the defending champions to notch up their fifth win in six matches. The target of 145 was not an impossible one but a spate of run-outs in the middle overs proved decisive.

Ambati Rayudu, Jusin Kemp, Stuart Binny and Nicky Boje were run out when the order of the day was to stick around and complete the formalities.

In the event, the Heroes were left with 27 to score off the last two overs and finally 16 off the last from Dale Benkenstein. With Harris (15) and his partner Anirudh Singh (18) managing just four singles, the match seemed all but over. But Harris produced a stunning shot over the long-on boundary and then amid mounting expectations, managed a four to third-man.

The Heroes are still very much in contention to advance to the knock-out stage while Delhi are virtually out with three wins from seven matches,

Earlier, Man of the Match Abbas Ali struck a well-paced half-century as Delhi Giants scored 144-9 after electing to bat.

The former Madhya Pradesh batsman handled the sharp bowling attack deftly to compile 53 off 39 deliveries with eight hits to the fence.

Scorecard
Delhi Giants : M Mishra c Binny b Sahabuddin 5, A Gunawardene run out 17, M Atapattu b Boje 11, S Abbas Ali b Boje 53, D Benkenstein b Harris 17, P Nixon c Maher b Razzaq 28, A Nabi st Khaleel b Harris 0, T Sudhindra c&b Reddy 2, D Mahajan not out 1, S Bond c Kemp b Reddy 4, A Murtaza not out 2; Extras: (lb-2, w-2) 4; Total (9 wkts) 144; Fall of wickets: 1-7, 2-30, 3-43, 4-89, 5-123, 6-126, 7-136, 8-138, 9-142; Bowling: Razzaq 4-0-27-1, Sahabuddin 3-0-25-1, Boje 4-0-25-2, Reddy 3-0-24-2, Harris 4-0-23-2, Binny 2-0-18-0
Hyderabad Heroes : J Maher c&b Bond 4, A Razzaq c Mishra b Nabi 41, A Rayudu run out 29, J Kemp run out 4, S Binny run out 21, N Boje run out 8, C Harris not out 15, A Singh not out 18; Extras: (lb-1, w-2) 3; Total: (6 wkts) 143; Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-75, 3-75, 4-91, 5-107, 6-113; Bowling: Bond 4-0-22-1, Sudhindra 4-0-15-0, Murtaza 4-0-31-0, Nabi 3-0-33-1, Benkenstein 4-0-31-0, Mahajan 1-0-10-0