 | « Back to article | Print this article |
A highly anticipated encounter was in store expecting to revive the great "Indo-Pak" cricket rivalry on the vibrant ICL platform.
In the end the Indians won a close encounter against their arch rivals by 4 wickets.
Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq won the toss and elected to bat. The Pakistanis opened with their flamboyant combination of Abdul Razzaq and Imran Nazir.
Razzaq got into the act right scoring taking 22 runs off a wayward Ganapathi Vignesh over. At the end of the third over, the Pakistani side was off to a flier as they were placed handsomely at 36 for no loss.
Rajagopal Sathish brought on Thiru Kumaran in the fourth over and the bowler responded immediately with the first breakthrough in form of Razzaq's wicket.
Similarly the introduction of Ali Murtaza in the seventh over paid dividends immediately in form of Imran Farhat's wicket. At the end of the seventh over the Pakistanis were 57 for the loss of 2 wickets.
Sathish introduced spin from both ends in form of Murtaza and Syed Mohammed which resulted in drying off the runs for Pakistan.
At the half way stage of their innings the Pakistanis were comfortably placed at 79/2. Nazir was gong great guns in the middle overs keeping the momentum of the Pakistani innings going.
The Chennai lad Syed was troubling the great Inzi with his slow left arm spin and finally got his prized scalp when the Pakistani captain nicked one to the keeper in the 15th over.
With five overs to go the Pakistani side was all set for the onslaught, as they were placed handsomely at 113/4.
Kumaran came for his second spell in the 16th over and got the wicket of the dangerous Nazir for a well made 56.
Some disciplined bowling from Murtaza and Kumaran in the final overs, assisted by some sharp fielding saw the Pakistani side restricted to 152/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
In reply the Indians came out with the explosive Vignesh and Ibrahim Khaleel to open the innings.
The move was moderately successful till Vignesh went for a shot too many, falling to the experienced Razzaq, for an entertaining cameo of 18.
At the end of the fifth over the Indians were right on target at 43/1. A boundary down the third man by Khaleel brought on the Indian 50 in the sixth over.
The young wicketkeeper was making most of the opportunity, batting sensibly in company of the classy Abhishek Jhunjhunwala. Both the young batsmen were playing sensibly taking quick singles with the odd boundary and brought on the 50-run partnership off only 41 balls in the 10th over.
At the halfway mark of their innings the ICL India side was very well placed at 83/1, needing 70 more runs of 60 balls and nine wickets in hand.
It finally took the experienced Arshad Khan to break the lovely partnership as he dismissed Jhunjhunwala in the 11th over, for a well made 23.
Khaleel brought up his maiden fifty off only 39 balls in the 12th over. An unfortunate run out of the in-form TP Singh, backing too far at the non striker end brought the Pakistani side back into the game at the Indian score of 103/3 in the 13th over.
Some smart out-fielding from Razzaq brought an end to Khaleel's brilliant innings of 63 in the 15th over.
With five overs to go, the match was in India's control, needing 34 runs from 30 balls with 6 wickets in hand.
With two overs to go the Indians needed 16 runs with 5 wickets in hand. In the end some power hitting by captain Sathish helped the ICL Indians score a magnificent victory by 4 wickets.
Brief scores: ICL Pakistani 152/8 in 20 overs (Nazir 56, Razzaq 17, Kumaran 2/20) lost by 4 wickets to ICL India 153/6 in 19.4 overs (Khaleel 63, Jhunjhunwala 23, Sathish 29, Khan 1/30)