Tigers' nail-biting victory over Champs'

Kolkata Tigers team kept their tranquillity under some high pressure cooker situation and didn’t press the panic button at all as they pulled of a nail-biting 2-run win over Mumbai Champs’, which bowled out in the last ball of the innings while chasing 147 in the league match of the Edelweiss 20s Challenge played at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on Wednesday.

The loss handed Mumbai Champs their second successive defeat in the Edelweiss 20s Challenge and reduced its chances of making it to the semifinals from the eight-team league. Andre Adams (21 n.o. and 3/35) was declared Man of the Match for his phenomenal all-round performance.

Champs was going good at 127 for three after 16.3 overs, while chasing the target of 147 for victory, but some desperate belligerence by their players in quest of finishing off the match early cost them the match.

Champs’ bowled out off the last ball for 144 as they lost quick four wickets in the space of nine balls spreading between 16th and 17th over and later lost three wickets in the final over to taste the defeat.

Nathan Astle (30, 2x6, 1x4), Johan van der Wath (10, 10b, 1x6), Kiran Powar (0) and Shreyas Khanolkar (2) put their team in dire straits from the winning position after gifting their wickets to the opponents without wasting much sweat.

Much to Champs dismay, they needed only nine runs in the final over, which is quite achievable, but they lost the remaining three wickets in desperation and eventually let Tigers romp home triumphant.

Tigers skipper, Craig McMillan, won the toss and elected to bat. Tigers opened the innings with Subhomoy Das and dynamic Protean Lance Klusener. Das got into the act right away sending the ball to the ropes twice in the first over of Van der Wath.

Tino best provided the first breakthrough to Champs’ castling Lance Klusener for 9 with a nippy delivery in the 4th over. Tigers were placed at 35 /1 after five overs. Astle brought on medium pacer Khird in the 7th over and he quickly responded with a wicket on the very first ball getting away Subhomoy Das for 21.

Kasprowicz who got hit for a couple of boundaries in his previous over bounced back as he cleaned up Tigers captain McMillan in the 10th over. Tigers were 67/3 in the middle of the innings.

Promising Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (33, 29b, 4x4) and Rohan Gavaskar (41 not out, 36b, 3x4) guided Tigers to post 146 for five in their stipulated overs. Adams (21 not out, 12 balls) cracked two sixes in Tino’s Best innings last over that came handy in the end.

Mumbai Champs reply started on a shaky note with Jayanta castled by Andre Adams in the first over. The newly promoted opener S Paul along with Raviraj Patil displayed some wide range of strokes taking the score to 34/1 at the end of the 4th over.

Patil, who produced a fine half-century, was in aggressive mood as he showed scant respect for the reputed opposition bowlers, unleashing some audacious strokes all around the park.

Tigers captain got the dangerous Patil out for a well-made 52 in the 10th over. Captain Nathan Astle & Paul battling it out for the Champs at the crease but some tight overs in the middle of the innings from the experienced Klusener and McMillan brought the Tigers back into the game.

Champs were comfortably placed at 102/3 at the end of 15th over, needing 45 off the last 5 overs at 9 runs per over. Astle played some big shots but a rash stroke brought an end to his promising innings of 30, which eventually changed the fortunes for Champs and course of the game.

A mini collapse with quick wickets of Van der Wath & Powar & Khanolkar reduced the Champs to 130 /6 in the 17th over taking the match right down to the wire. It proved too big a task for the lower order batsmen and finally the champs fell short of the target by just 2 runs.

Brief Scores:

Kolkata Tigers: 146 for five in 20 overs (Rohan Gavaskar 41 not out, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala 33, Andre Adams 21 not out, Subhomoy Das 21, Ranjit Kharid two for 17) bt Mumbai Champs: 144 in 20 overs (Raviraj Patil 52, Nathan Astle 30, Subhohjit Paul 27, Andre Adams three for 35, Nantie Hayward two for 14).

Thursday’s match: Hyderabad Heroes vs. Lahore Badshahs.