Heroes' outsmarts Badshahs' via bowl-out

Hyderabad Heroes’ players upped the ante of their game at right time and rose perfect to the occasion in the Edelweiss 20s Challenge as they pulled off a breathtaking championship victory, edging out formidable Badshahs 2-0 in the best of three finals via bowl-out system, after the second final played at the floodlit Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium ended in a tie here on Sunday.

Heroes’ were well prepared for the bowl-out as they drafted in slow bowlers for the unique rule while after looking at Badshahs dismal performance in the bowl out it was appearing that they didn’t have any gameplan for the bowl-out.

Nicky Boje, I.S. Reddy, Chris Harris found the target for Heroes’ while Alfred Absolom missed it. Rana Naved, Shahid Nazir and Naved Latif faltered in the decisive bowl out for Badshahs.

Hyderabad Heroes bowled out Lahore Badshahs 3-0 in a stimulating second final to pocket whooping prize money of Rs.2 crores while runners-up Lahore Badshahs had to content with an amount of Rs. 1 crore after remaining unbeaten till they entered into the finals.

Chasing the scanty target of 131, Heroes had a cautious start as they scored just for the loss of no wickets after three overs. Both Sami and Mahmood bowled an intimidating initial spell to tackle dangerous combo of Abdul Razzaq and Jimmy Maher who countered it with some solid defence.

Inzamam then brought on experienced and wily leg-spinner Mushtaq in the seventh over and his move reaped benefit as he quickly responded by getting rid of Razzaq, bringing the Badshahs right back into the match.

The Heroes were placed at 40/1 after seven overs. Mushtaq struck again in his next over cleaning up Heroes’ batting mainstay Maher for 19. The match was evenly poised during the halfway mark as Heroes’ score was at 59/2.

Heroes’ needed another 72 runs with 8 wickets in hand. Inzamam again came up with some tactical decision and brought on Rana Naved in the 14th over, who straightaway broke the dangerous partnership going between Boje and Rayudu with a peach of a delivery.

Rayudu was holding the fort quite well as he was in ominous form on Sunday. With 4 overs to go, the Heroes were away from the championship title by only 35 runs in front of their humongous home crowd.

But fate had got some thing different in store as Rana Naved took the match away form Heroes’ grips to right down to the wire after picking up hasty three wickets in the 18th over.

However, a final over trickle saw the scores tied taking the match into a bowl out. A fine knock by Ambati Rayudu (46 n.o., 39 balls, 4 x 4, 1 x6). But when Rayudu pulled Azhar Mahmood for a six in the 19th over, it looked as if he would see the team through.

But Heroes’ innings came to an end at tied score of 130 despite an erratic final over from Rana, who clean-bowled Indra Sekhar Reddy to finish off with a five-wicket haul.

Earlier, left-arm spinner I.S. Reddy finished off with a splendid spell of four for 19 from four overs that helped Hyderabad Heroes restrict Lahore Badshahs to a modest 130 for nine in stipulated 20 overs.

Opting to bat, Badshahs Imrans’ Nazir and Farhat contributed 30 runs each in the upper and middle order. The middle order again couldn’t do much as somehow Badshahs team managed to reach the score of 130 in the end.

Chennai Superstars and Kolkata Tigers received Rs. 75 lakh and Rs. 50 lakh for coming at third and fourth position respectively. Naved-Ul-Hasan and Ambati Rayudu were jointly declared the Man of the Match pocketing Rs. 2 lakhs and a Diamond Ball sponsored by Gitanjali Group and the Trophy.

Former Pakistani all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, who was declared Man of the Series for the Edelweiss 20s Challenge, pocketed Rs.40 lakhs and the trophy. In addition, Bharatstudent.com, the team sponsor for the Hyderabad Heroes also declared Rs. 4 lakh each to the best Batsman and best Bowler of the Edelweiss 20s Challenge respectively.

Brief Scores

Lahore Badshahs: 130/9 (Imran Nazir 30, Imran Farhat 30; Inder Shekhar Reddy 4/19, Stuart Binny 3/9). Hyderabad Heroes: 130 (Ambati Rayudu 46; Naved-Ul Hasan 5/22, Mushtaq Ahmed 2/19).

Result: Hyderabad Heroes’ won via bowl out 3-0 after the match ended in a tie Toss: Lahore Badshahs won the toss and chose to bat Umpires: Roy Palmer (ENG), Ranmore Martinez (ENG) and Shakeel Khan (PAK) Referee: Ajit Wadekar (IND) Man of the Match: Naved-Ul-Hasan and Ambati Rayudu Man of the Series: Abdul Razzaq

TEAMS

Lahore Badshahs: Taufeeq Umar, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Inzamam-Ul-Haq (C), Naved Latif, Humayun Farhat (W), Azhar Mahmood, Naved-Ul-Hasan, Muhammad Sami, Shahid Nazir, Mushtaq Ahmed

Hyderabad Heroes: James Maher, Abdul Razzaq, Ambati Rayudu, Justin Kemp, Anirudh Singh, Stuart Binny, Chris Harris (C), Nicky Boje, Ibrahim Khaleel (W), Alfred Absolom, Inder Shekhar Reddy