Chennai Superstars crowned ICL Twenty20 champs

Dec 17: Shabbir Ahmed (4/23) steers Chennai Superstars to score a scintillating 12-run triumphant ICL inaugural T20 title win over Chandigarh Lions, claiming the lone hat-trick of the tournament. Delhi Jets gets third position.

Shabbir Ahmed’s outstanding bowling performance of 4 for 23 inclusive a hat-trick at the crucial juncture turned the match and title in Chennai Superstars favour, as they scored a 12-run victory over local favourites Chandigarh Lions, amidst an electrifying ambience in the grand finale of the inaugural ICL Twenty20 championship at the Tau Devi Lal stadium here on Sunday.

Chasing the target of 156, Chandigarh Lions received an early jolt in the last delivery of its innings first over, when Shabbir Ahmed shown the door to prolific opener Imran Farhat (4) very cheaply, inducing an edge that ended up in wicket-keeper’s safe hands.

Shabbir scalped Hamish Marshall in the same manner to finish his first spell. Shabbir achieved his hat-trick after coming back for his second spell in the 13th over. He had already dismissed Hamish Marshall earlier in the last ball of third over and claimed the wickets of Chetan Sharma and Dinesh Mongia in the first two balls to record the first and only hat-trick of the championship.

Shabbir Ahmed snapped the first and only hat-trick of the tournament to claim the player of the match award.

Player of the series Ian Harvey did the finishing act as all eyes were on Ian Harvey who was under pressure to bowl the very last over with the Lions requiring an improbable 23 runs to win.

Harvey dismissed courageous Sarbajeet Singh (28) off the very last delivery of the final over to seal the victory when the wicket-keeper batsman smashed the ball to the deep mid-wicket boundary to give an easy catch to Ganapathi Vignesh.

Sarabjeet Singh and Andrew Hall tried their hard to find the boundaries, but unfortunately for them, there wasn’t too much left for them to do, to attain victory after the Superstars bowlers shattered the Lions middle-order.

Harvey was adjudged the player of the series for his fantastic overall performance throughout the tournament. The versatile Australian all-rounder emerged as the leading run-scorer in the competition by scoring 266 runs in 7 matches. He also took 9 wickets to add to the spectacular starts he had provided to the Chennai Superstars with the bat.

The title clash went down to the wire. “This is an unforgettable moment,” said Stuart Law, captain of the victorious Chennai Superstars.

Tejinder Pal Singh (35) provided some resistance to Lions team keeping the scoreboard ticking by striking boundaries and playing attacking strokes. He gave a glimmer of home to the heaps of fans that were firmly behind the Chandigarh Lions.

Manish Sharma fell victim to the Superstars’ most successful bowler in the tournament, Thiru Kumaran, for 4, caught by Sarvanan at point. Dinesh Mongia joined TP Singh in the middle and the duo added 36 runs for the fourth-wicket. The match turned when part-time seamer Vignesh snapped TP Singh for a well-made 35.

Mongia was the next victim of Shabbir, when the fast bowler came back for his second spell, uprooting Mongia’ middle-stump with a quick reverse swinging yorker. Sharma’s wicket in the next delivery gave Shabbir the hat-trick.

The last hope of lions’ team Chris Cairns (5) stepped in after Mongia’s dismissal but Harvey had other plans, as he cleaned up Cairns to see the back of him.

Earlier, the Chennai Superstars had everything going their way after Chris Cairns won the toss and inserted them into bat. Ganapathi Vignesh got the team off to a blistering start by smashing two boundaries and a massive six before Daryl Tuffey sent him for 15, caught by TP Singh at mid off.

Skipper Stuart Law (36) and Chris Read (21) picked up the pieces and maintained the steady flow of runs with precision. The duo added 43 runs from just 30 deliveries.

Chris Read’s run-out was a lot more conventional with the ball racing away to the mid-wicket and a little bit of confusion beween the Aussie-English pair led to his dismissal.

Harvey , on the other hand, suffered due to a piece of brilliance from keeper Sarabjeet. The 22-year old ran towards forward short leg and a single-handed throw had Harvey stranded outside the crease – a terrific piece of fielding.

Hemang Badani (20) and captain Stuart Law (34) played definitive roles after Russell Arnold foxed on a flighted delivery from Dinesh Mongia (1/19). The duo added 33 runs for the fifth-wicket until Daryl Tuffey (2/32) cleaned up Badani.

Stuart Law was losing partners at regular intervals from the other end, but managed to steer the team to a respectable total of 155/8.

In the classification matches for the third and fourth place, Delhi Jets defeated Kolkata Tigers by five wickets to earn fourth place while Hyderabad Heroes beat Mumbai Champs by 25 runs to finish fifth.

SCOREBOARD

Chennai Superstars: Ian Harvey (run out) 36, G. Vignesh c Manish Sharma b Tuffey 15, Chris Read (run out) 21, Russel Arnold c Chetan Sharma b Dinesh Mongia 5, Hemang Badani b Tuffey 20, Stuart Law (run out) 34, R. Sathish c Tuffey b Amit Uniyal 12, V. Saravanan (run out) 3, Thiru Kumaran (not out) 0; Extras (b-1, lb-4, nb-1, w-3) 9.

Total: (for eight wkts in 20 overs) 155.

Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-63, 3-70, 4-83, 5-116, 6-148, 7-153, 8-155.

Chandigarh Lions bowling: Hall 4-0-21-0, Tuffey 4-0-32-2, Uniyal 3-0-22-1, Cairns 3-0-38-0, Mongia 4-0-19-1, T.P. Singh 2-0-18-0.

Chandigarh Lions: Imran Farhat c Read b Shabbir Ahmed 4, Hamish Marshall c Read b Shabbir Ahmed 3, T.P. Singh c Tamil Kumaran b Vignesh 35, Manish Sharma c Saravanan b Thiru Kumaran 4, Dinesh Mongia b Shabbir Ahmed 21, Chris Cairns b Ian Harvey 5, Chetan Sharma lbw b Shabbir Ahmed 0, Andrew Hall (not out) 30, Sarabjit Singh c Vignesh b Ian Harvey 28; Extras (b-1, lb-2, nb-2, w-8) 13;

Total: (for eight wkts. in 20 overs) 143.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-19, 3-30, 4-66, 5-82, 6-82, 7-84, 8-143.

Chennai Superstars bowling: Shabbir 4-0-23-4, Harvey 4-0-26-2, Tamil Kumaran 4-0-35-0, Thiru Kumaran 4-0-32-1, G. Vignesh 2-0-9-1, R. Sathish 2-0-15-0.

Third place (DELHI JETS): Kolkata Tigers 141 for seven in 20 overs (Shibsagar Singh 33 not out) lost to Delhi Jets 145 for five in 19.1 overs (Marvan Atapattu 75 not out).

Fifth place (HYDERABAD HEROES): Hyderabad Heroes 179 for three in 20 overs (Abdur Razzaq 67 not out, Chris Harris 49 not out, S. Nag 35, R. Khirid three for 29) beat Mumbai Champs 154 for six in 20 overs (Shreyas Khanolkar 51, Vikram Solanki 45).