SPORTS Saturday, 19 April, 2014
Maxwell, Miller orchestrate clinical chase ABU DHABI
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Scoreboard
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successful chase of a target in excess of 200 is normally furious, full of power and towering shots. Glenn Maxwell and David Miller did it differently for Punjab. They hit only five sixes - three of those after the 15th over, by which time Punjab were firm favourites - and turned the game during a 115-run stand that was driven by Maxwell's surgical placement and Miller's calm supporting act. Chennai were overtaken with seven balls to spare. There were only four notable performers in the game and all of them were overseas players. Maxwell and Miller's clinical middle-order partnership came after Chennai's new openers batted as though powered by rocket-fuel. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith also scored half-centuries and ransacked 123 in 12.4 overs, but their fierce partnership was not the best batting effort on a scorching Abu Dhabi afternoon. Chasing 205, Punjab had slipped to 52 for 3 in 5.1 overs. Three Indian batsmen had been dismissed - Virender Sehwag, Cheteshwar Pujara and Akshar Patel - and the game hinged on how
cHennai T20 innings (20 overs maximum) dr Smith c bailey b balaji 66 bb Mccullum c Maxwell b Patel 67 SK raina c Sehwag b awana 24 MS dhoni*† c dhawan b balaji 26 dJ bravo not out 8 extras: (lb 2, w 11, nb 1) 14 Total: (4 wickets; 20 overs) 205 (10.25 runs per over) did noT baT: F du Plessis, ra Jadeja, r ashwin, P negi, a nehra, MM Sharma FaLL oF WicKeTS: 1-123 (Mccullum, 12.4 ov), 2-161 (Smith, 16.2 ov), 3-185 (raina, 18.4 ov), 4-205 (dhoni, 19.6 ov) boWLinG: ar Patel 4-0-34-1, P awana 3-0-35-1, MG Johnson 4-0-47-0, L balaji 4-0-43-2, r dhawan 3-0-21-0, GJ Maxwell 2-0-23-0 MoHaLi T20 innings ca Pujara lbw b ashwin 13 V Sehwag b nehra 19 GJ Maxwell b Smith 95
ar Patel lbw b ashwin 2 da Miller not out 54 GJ bailey* not out 17 exTraS:(lb 1, w 5) 6 ToTaL: (4 wickets; 18.5 overs) 206 did noT baT: WP Saha†, MG Johnson, r dhawan, P awana, L balaji FaLL oF WicKeTS: 1-31 (Sehwag, 2.6 ov), 2-38 (Pujara, 3.4 ov), 3-52 (Patel, 5.1 ov), 4-167 (Maxwell, 15.4 ov) boWLinG: a nehra 3-0-24-1, MM Sharma 2.5-0-35-0, r ashwin 4-0-41-2, P negi 3-0-37-0, ra Jadeja 4-0-43-0, dr Smith 2-025-1 MaTcH deTaiLS ToSS: chennai T20, who chose to bat PoinTS: Mohali T20 2, chennai T20 0 Player of the match - GJ Maxwell (Mohali T20) Umpires - rK illingworth (england) and c Shamshuddin (india) TV umpire - bF bowden (new Zealand) Match referee - aJ Pycroft (Zimbabwe) reserve umpire - K Srinath (india)
Maxwell, Miller and George Bailey would fare. Not one to waste time, Maxwell countered R Ashwin's wideoutside-leg line from round the wicket by reverse-swatting his first ball to the point boundary. That set the tone for an innings filled not only by such unorthodoxy - there were several more reversesweeps and pulls - but also by textbook drives and perfectly-timed pushes between mid-off and cover. Maxwell's placement was largely im-
peccable. Most of his airborne shots were into gaps in the outfield, but two were not and Chennai failed to catch them. On 37, Maxwell reverse-swept Ravindra Jadeja but the top edge was fluffed by Ashish Nehra at short third man, and on 77 the substitute Samuel Badree put down a chance at deep square leg. Miller also had a let-off - on 17, two balls after Maxwell's first reprieve - but it was a much tougher chance that Faf du Plesiss put down at short cover.
rajasthan secure
FINAL-OVER VICTORY ABU DHABI aGencieS
Hyderabad will be sick of the sight of Australia allrounder James Faulkner. Last year, he took five-wickets hauls in two encounters against Hyderabad, and though this time he didn't make an impact with the ball, he secured a final-over victory by coolly cracking his first two balls for boundaries. It completed a day where 205 was easily hunted down in the afternoon by Punjab, but Rajasthan huffed and puffed to overhaul 133. After Glenn Maxwell and Co. had cruised past Chennai's huge score in the first game of the day, Rajasthan captain Shane Watson had, half-jokingly, said at the toss that he would be happy to chase anything below 200. His team was given a score substantially below 200, but the pursuit was anything but smooth as Hyderabad lived up to their reputation of being tenacious defenders. Rajasthan sprung a surprise by sending Abhishek Nayar opening, and he began by coaxing the first ball from Dale Steyn through cover for four. That was among the few controlled shots from Rajasthan in the Powerplay as Steyn, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma had the ball swerving
Scoreboard HYderabad T20 innings (20 overs maximum) aJ Finch c richardson b Kulkarni 2 S dhawan* c richardson b bhatia 38 da Warner c richardson b bhatia 32 KL rahul† c rahane b Kulkarni 20 dJG Sammy c †Samson b richardson 6 Y Venugopal rao not out 16 KV Sharma c Hodge b richardson 4 dW Steyn not out 0 exTraS: (b 1, lb 5, w 9) 15 ToTaL: (6 wickets; 20 overs) 133 did noT baT: a Mishra, b Kumar, i Sharma FaLL oF WicKeTS: 1-2 (Finch, 0.5 ov), 2-77 (dhawan, 11.3 ov), 3-82 (Warner, 13.2 ov), 4-108 (rahul, 16.6 ov), 5-111 (Sammy, 17.3 ov), 6-130 (KV Sharma, 19.4 ov) boWLinG: dS Kulkarni 4-0-23-2, KW richardson 4-0-25-2, JP Faulkner 3-0-27-0, PV Tambev 4-0-23-0, r bhatia 4-0-22-2, STr binny 1-0-7-0 JaiPUr T20 innings aM nayar lbw b Steyn 4 aM rahane c Finch b Mishra 59 SV Samson† c dhawan b Kumar 3 Sr Watson* c †rahul b i Sharma 3 STr binny not out 48 bJ Hodge c Sammy b Mishra 1 r bhatia c Finch b Steyn 4 JP Faulkner not out 8 exTraS: (lb 3, w 2) 5 ToTaL: (6 wickets; 19.3 overs) 135 did noT baT: KW richardson, dS Kulkarni, PV Tambe FaLL oF WicKeTS: 1-4 (nayar, 0.3 ov), 2-15 (Samson, 3.3 ov), 3-31 (Watson, 6.2 ov), 4-108 (rahane, 15.6 ov), 5-111 (Hodge, 17.4 ov), 6-121 (bhatia, 18.3 ov) boWLinG: dW Steyn 4-0-29-2, b Kumar 3.3-0-21-1, i Sharma 4-0-29-1, dJG Sammy 2-0-19-0, a Mishra 4-0-26-2, KV Sharma 2-0-8-0 MaTcH deTaiLS ToSS: Jaipur T20, who chose to field PoinTS: Jaipur T20 2, Hyderabad T20 0 PLaYer oF THe MaTcH: aM rahane (Jaipur T20) UMPireS: bF bowden (new Zealand) and rK illingworth (england) TV UMPire: c Shamshuddin (india) MaTcH reFeree: aJ Pycroft (Zimbabwe) reSerVe UMPire: K Srinath (india)
around under lights. Nayar was dismissed third ball while Sanju Samson barely middled a ball in his troubled stay before chipping a catch to mid-off in the fourth over. That brought together the key pair of Watson and Ajinkya Rahane. Bhuvneshwar bowled an outstanding sixth over, beating the bat three times, twice with the ball leaving the batsman and once cutting in. Perhaps it was that pressure that helped Ishant dismiss Watson - who had a strike-rate of 227.77 against him - for the first time in the IPL, leaving Rajasthan at 31 for 3. Rahane played and missed, had plenty of inside edges and outside edges, was dropped early at first slip, was struck on the helmet by Ishant, but he stuck it out through the difficult phase and kept Rajasthan in the game with a half-century. Even that landmark came through an outside edge to the third-man boundary. Stuart Binny, the only other Rajasthan batsman to reach double figures, took on the weak link, Darren Sammy, early on but with the asking-rate never too high, he made sure he tucked the ball around to keep the score moving - he had only one dot ball in the final 14 he faced. He found the googlies from the legspinners, Amit Mishra and Karn Sharma, hard to read but his combative 77-run stand with Rahane kept the game tight. Rahane finally fell in the 16th over, and Rajasthan's finisher Brad Hodge flailed against spin before perishing for an eightball 1. Mishra got both those big scalps, and Hyderabad were sensing a win. Steyn removed Rajat Bhatia, but with eight needed in the final over, Faulkner finished off the game with three deliveries to spare.
Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad.
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