captain Gautam Gambhir And wicketkeeper-batsman Robin Uthappa rolled back the years to guide Bharat Maharaja to a comfortable 10-wicket win over Asia Lions in the Legends League Cricket (LLC) Masters in Asian Town, Doha Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Uthappa attacked the Asia Lions, scoring an unbeaten 88 in just 39 balls, hitting 11 fours and five sixes. At the other end, his former Indian teammate Gambhir took just 36 balls and hit 12 sixes to reach an unbeaten 61. This power-packed performance by the former Kolkata Knight Riders duo ensured that the Maharajas of India, who had suffered two defeats in their first two matches, not only picked up a much-needed win but also raised their net run rate. Extended as well.
Earlier, the Asia Lions got off to a decent start, being put to bat by the India Maharajas, but 157/5 was all they could manage in their allotted 20 overs. Former Sri Lankan openers Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan put on 73 runs in just nine overs for the first wicket to give the Lions a strong foundation. Dilshan was dismissed by Stuart Binny for 32 off 27 balls, while Tharanga scored 69 off 48 balls with seven fours and two sixes. Former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq played a cameo, scoring an unbeaten 27 off 17 balls with two fours and two sixes.
For the Bharat Maharajas, Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan were the standout bowlers, conceding only 12 runs in four overs and 13 runs in three overs respectively, while Ashok Dinda and Binny were taken for runs.
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Bharat Maharaja bowled his left-arm pacer Irfan to start the proceedings and he conceded just three runs in the first over. The first boundary of the day came from Tharanga, who lofted Dinda towards cover. In the same over, Dilshan also hit a four by cover driving Dinda. Irfan’s third over was equally brilliant, conceding just four runs. Dilshan lifts Dinda towards mid-wicket for another boundary, slowly but steadily building a strong opening partnership.
In the fifth over, Binny’s first ball was clipped by Tharanga over the backward point fence. When Uthappa dropped him for 21, Tharanga escaped being caught at the outside edge off the third ball. 16 runs came from that over when Dilshan also hit Binny over the square leg fence.
Yusuf Pathan was introduced for the sixth over and Tharanga hit the second ball over the cover-point fence and a 50-run partnership was in place by the end of the powerplay.
Dilshan hit the second and third balls of Binny’s second over at square leg for a six. Then on the fourth ball, Binny forced Dilshan to cut it in the air for 32 and Irfan Pathan caught him at short third man. Mohammad Hafeez, going for a wild swing at the accurate Harbhajan, missed the fifth ball of the tenth over and was dismissed leg before wicket for two.
At the halfway point, the Asia Lions were 76/2, with Misbah-ul-Haq, the hero of their first two matches, joined Tharanga. Young 51-year-old leg-spinner Pravin Tambe took the valuable wicket of Misbah, who was brilliantly stumped for a duck by wicket-keeper Uthappa. Now the flow of runs started decreasing and Harbhajan gave only one run in the 12th over. Asghar Afghan hit the first ball of Tambe’s 15th over for a six. Tharanga completed his half-century in 41 balls with the help of six fours but Asghar Afghan was dismissed lbw before Raina for 15 runs.
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In reply, India Maharajas were ruthless and chased down the target with ease, scoring 159/0 in just 12.3 overs. Gambhir and Uthappa discussed the pace of Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Amir and Shoaib Akhtar.
Uthappa hit two fours in Amir’s second over. Gambhir’s brilliant cover drive off Tanveer in the third over was worth watching. He then hit two more fours in a row. 20 runs came from that over when Uthappa also hit the last ball of the third over from Tanveer for a boundary over the covers. He also bowled three consecutive wide balls in that over.
Off-spinner Hafeez was introduced for the fifth over to check the run flow. Gambhir hit Hafeez for two consecutive fours off the fifth and sixth balls to build an opening partnership of 50 runs in five overs.
Left-arm spinner Abdur Razzaq, who bowled brilliantly against the world giants in the third match, was introduced for the sixth over. Uthappa cuts him for a boundary and hits the fifth and sixth balls for two consecutive fours to take 14 runs from that over. In this way 65 runs were scored in the power play.
Shoaib Akhtar bowled the seventh over which was cheered by the crowd. Uthappa pulls his fourth and last ball for a boundary. Hafeez, who bowled the ninth over, was pulled over midwicket by Uthappa and hit three consecutive sixes to bring up his half-century in just 27 balls. He also hit a boundary and took 23 runs from that over. No Asia Lions bowler was spared and the onslaught continued against Isuru Udana and Thisara Perera as well.
At the halfway point, Bharat Maharaja needed just 33 runs from the last 60 balls. Gambhir completed his half-century in 32 balls and took his team to victory with 45 balls to spare.
Abbreviated Score: Asia Lions 157/5 in 20 overs (Upul Tharanga 69, Tillakaratne Dilshan 32; Suresh Raina 2/16) lost to India Maharaja 159/0 in 12.3 overs (Robin Uthappa 88 not out, Gautam Gambhir 61 not out) by 10 wickets.
With inputs from IANS.
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