CLT20 Match 15 Rajasthan v Perth

Rajasthan Royals 121 for 1 (Rahane 62*, Samson 50*) beat Perth Scorchers 120 (Cooper 4-18) by nine wickets


Rajasthan Royals breezed into the Champions League semi-final with a nine-wicket win over Perth Scorchers that rarely looked an even contest, and preserved their unbeaten streak in Jaipur this year. The result also knocks Scorchers out of contention for the semi-finals, meaning no Australian sides remain in the hunt.

Kevon Cooper was the primary architect of Scorchers' collapse, settling into a fine rhythm early to deliver a number of humming yorkers, two of which yielded scalps. He took four wickets in total and conceded 18 from his four overs, while Pravin Tambe's canny legspin removed batsmen at the other end. Both he and James Faulkner finished with two wickets apiece.

 

With only 121 to chase down, Sanju Samson and Ajinkya Rahane stroked attractive half-centuries to remain unbeaten at the close.

 

Liam Davis hit 13 runs off the second over of the match, but that was as good as Scorchers' evening got, as they embarked on a slide that began gradually at first, before reaching its hapless crescendo in the middle overs. Davis and opening partner Ashton Agar departed inside the Powerplay, and though Voges promised a bright innings with three early leg-side boundaries, the batsmen at the other end could not muster sustained competence.

 

Simon Katich was the recipient of Pravin Tambe's largesse, when a return catch was dropped in the eighth over, but the batsman could make no use of his second life. Two balls later, he ran past a googly. Hilton Cartwright failed to get bat to a straight Cooper yorker soon after, before Tom Triffitt offered Tambe a return chance the bowler could hold onto this time.

 

Ashton Turner and Joel Paris were castled by two more yorkers, and somewhere during the collapse Voges had mishit a slower ball to long-on, to top-score with 27. From 97 for 9, No. 10 Jason Behrendorff managed the kind of batting sense that had evaded the men above him to lift his team to 120.

 

Behrendorff engineered a tad more hope for Scorchers when he removed Rahul Dravid with the best yorker of the match - a late-swinging beauty - to have Royals 1 for 1, but 120 was always going to be difficult to defend on a pitch two teams had hit 167 on, hours before.

 

The occasional false stroke punctuated a spate of flowing square strokes off Samson's blade, but the range and composure in his 42-ball 50 embellished his reputation as a rising prospect. Rahane was the more circumspect of the two to begin with, but with so few to chase, Scorchers could not transform that reticence into pressure. The pair quickly began matching one another shot for shot, and the last half of the chase was little more than a simple stroll to the finish line.

 

Royals reached their target with 3.3 overs remaining, and their match with Otago Volts will now determine who finishes atop Group A.

CLT20 Match 14 Otago v Lions

Lions 167 for 4 (De Kock 109) tied with Otago 167 for 7 (Neesham 52*, Tahir 2-28),

Scores level after Super Over; Otago won on boundary count


Two heroes of the night turned villains then turned heroes again, but Lions' Quinton de Kock made the last couple of mistakes to facilitate an incredible tie in the Super Over. James Neesham's Otago emerged winners because they had one boundary more than the Lions did.

De Kock could easily have ended on the winning side. He turned a scratchy innings into a superlative hundred to take the stumbling Lions to 167, and then kept decently for the majority of the chase as Otago struggled. Neesham kept Otago in with big hitting towards the end, even against Sohail Tanvir's wily bowling. After Neesham's 25-ball 52, it came down to two required off the last ball. Tanvir beat the bat, but a fumble from de Kock allowed Otago the bye to push the game into the Super Over.

 

Tanvir responded superbly to the call of the hour, bowling accurate yorkers, but Brendon McCullum charged him to take a yorker on the full and send it over long-off for six to take Otago to a fighting 13. Neesham's response with the ball wasn't as good: he kept bowling wide-length balls, and conceded 10 to de Kock off the first two balls. Jean Symes, though, slogged with just three required off three, and holed out.

Now was de Kock's turn to falter.

 

He played a drive off the fifth ball hard to deep point, but didn't run hard enough, and was in no position to capitalise on the fumble in the deep. A couple there would have all but sealed the result in Lions' favour, but now they had a new batsman needing two to win off the last ball because a tie just wouldn't do. Dwaine Pretorious hit a low full toss to deep midwicket, de Kock began to come back for the second, realised halfway that he wouldn't be able to make it, and turned back.

 

Brendon McCullum's throw was accurate, and Pretorious was run out.

De Kock remained unbeaten on the night - in the main match and in the Super Over - but when Twenty20 got to its cruelest - number of boundaries splitting sides that finished even twice - he froze.

 

That the match even reached the Super Over was due in no small measure to Neesham. He helped Otago smash 64 off the last five off overs, starting with a six that was a cross between a ramp and a paddle off Lonwabo Tsotsobe in the bowler's final over - the 17th of the match. 

 

Neesham struck two more sixes through square-leg, both flicks, off Tanvir and Hardus Viljoen, and he slammed a straight six off Tanvir in the final over. But the Pakistan fast bowler kept Neil Wagner quiet off the last three balls. Tanvir gave away 10 runs in that over and the bye that de Kock missed off the last ball set up the Super Over. 

 

De Kock was Lions' hero when they batted, hitting his second T20 century as well as the second hundred of the tournament. De Kock's hundred was also the sixth overall ton in the Champions League. 

 

The opener batted with a sensibility that hardly comes about in Twenty20 matches. He added 44 for the first wicket with Rassie van der Dussen and another 29 in a second-wicket stand with Temba Bavuma. The Lions, however, floundered after that stand, losing two quick wickets, including that of Alviro Petersen, who was given leg-before off Nick Beard for a first-ball duck. 

 

But the Lions recovered well in the next six overs. Jean Symes and de Kock added 76 runs in 6.1 overs, with de Kock completing his fifty in the 15th over.

 

He had a reprieve in the same over, when Beard misjudged a catch at deep square leg off Nathan McCullum's bowling and de Kock made that chance count. Between the 15th and 18th overs, the pair picked up 13, 21, 18 and 11, pushing the total past the 150-run mark.

 

De Kock switched modes and took charge of the hitting, making sure none of the Otago bowlers had a hold on him. He helped Lions add 70 runs in the last five overs and completed a century, off just 60 balls, in the final over. His 109 off 63 balls included 10 fours and five sixes. 

 

Otago's chase of a competitive total was stunted by Tsotsobe, who bowled three excellent overs spread over the innings. His first three overs produced the crucial wickets of Brendon McCullum and Ryan ten Doeschate and he conceded only 12 runs. But he couldn't finish the innings well; his reputation as a slog-over bowler took another hit after Neesham's charge. 

 

Otago never had a rhythm to their batting, losing wickets just when it looked like they had a settled partnership at the crease. Rutherford and de Boorder added 51 runs for the third wicket but lost their wickets to Imran Tahir holing out while attempting slogs, to leave the team needing 65 off their last five overs.

CLT20 Match 13 Brisbane Heat v CSK

Chennai Super Kings 140 for 2 (Hussey 57*, Vijay 42) beat Brisbane Heat 137 for 7 (Cutting 42, Hartley 35) by eight wickets


Chennai Super Kings sauntered through to the Champions League semi-finals with an effortless eight-wicket win in Ranchi, while scuttling Brisbane Heat's tournament hopes. A stuttering Heat top order laid a mediocre foundation, before the men in the middle ran aground on Super Kings' spin.

R Ashwin was almost indecipherable in the middle overs, but Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina contributed fine spells as well; the trio shared four wickets and conceded just 37 runs in 11 overs collectively. Michael Hussey then stroked an unhurried, unbeaten half century, to help run down the target of 138 in 15.5 overs.

Dom Michael had had quite a road to the Champions League in 2013, but could not manage to make a run in his first Twenty20 match, departing in the first over to Mohit Sharma. James Hopes then promised much during his 14-ball 20, but mis-hit Albie Morkel to mid-off to leave his side at 29 for 2 in the fourth over.

It wasn't until spin arrived after the Powerplay, however, that Heat's evening truly took a nosedive. Ravindra Jadeja had had a poor tournament with the ball until tonight, and perhaps Heat had planned to dominate him early, but Dan Christian's attempt to hit Jadeja's first ball for a straight six, ended with him being caught at long-off for three. Four balls later, Joe Burns edged Jadeja to slip to collect a golden duck.

 

All this did was set the scene for Ashwin's last three overs, which cost two runs and claimed the wicket of Chris Lynn who underestimated the turn Ashwin generated from a conventional offbreak, and top-edged to short third man. The remaining 17 deliveries were a canny mix of googlies, offbreaks, carrom balls and more big-spinning leggies. Heat's middle order could hardly lay a bat on his deliveries, and soon abandoned any thoughts of hitting him to the fence.

 

The six overs following the Powerplay cost Heat four wickets for 12 runs, and from 66 for 6, a total below 120 beckoned. Ben Cutting, however, stroked his best Twenty20 innings to elevate his side toward credibility. He was watchful alongside Chris Hartley to begin with, hitting six from his first 14 balls, but adopted violence as the innings drew to a close, hitting five sixes from the last 10 balls he faced to finish on 42 not out from 25.

 

On a decent batting pitch, and with dew collecting on the outfield, 137 for 7 would rarely have been a base for victory, and at no stage in the chase did it test a purring Super Kings batting order. Hussey and Vijay punished indiscipline, but the pair were largely content to push runs into the outfield when the bowlers found their line.

 

With Super Kings' bowlers having prospered, Nathan Hauritz's overs shaped as crucial ones for Heat, but he was launched for two sixes in his first over, and was almost as expensive in his two subsequent overs. Vijay departed for 42, breaking a run of three consecutive ducks, but after having helped put on 75 runs for the first wicket in 9.2 overs, the side were well on their way to victory. MS Dhoni finished the match with a six, much to the delight of his home crowd, and Super Kings confirmed themselves as the in-form side of yet another tournament.

CLT20 Match 12 Titans v Sunrisers

Titans 147 for 2 (Davids 64, Rudolph 49*) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 145 for 7 (Dhawan 37, Wiese 3-17) by 8 wickets


Group B might still be the more open of the two groups, but Titans gave their chances of progressing quite a boost with a thumping victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ranchi. That didn't look likely when Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel were belting some wayward bowling from Titans around in a rapid half-century opening stand, but, as has always been the worry for Sunrisers, their middle-order frailty was exposed and, this time, their bowlers failed to bail them out.
 

Captain Henry Davids, who has been prolific in most domestic games recently, and Jacques Rudolph - who had got into double digits only three times in his previous eight T20 innings - were involved in what was only the second century stand of the tournament, as Titans chased down 146 without breaking a sweat. Davids took the early initiative, hitting six boundaries in the Powerplay, the highlight being an inside-hit off Dale Steyn over the covers for six.

 

By the time he was dismissed for 64 in the 13th over, Titans needed just 34 more and Rudolph saw them through though he couldn't secure a half-century. Victory was sealed in the 17th over, with eight wickets to spare.

 

Sunrisers openers had got off to a similarly dominating start after being inserted. In their previous game, against Brisbane Heat, they had done superbly to defend 123, but before that a lack of discipline cost them dearly against Chennai Super Kings. They produced equally errant lines in this match, bowling consistently short and wide. Morne Morkel began with a relatively testing over to Parthiv Patel, angling the ball against him from over the wicket and inducing a couple of plays and misses. He then went round the wicket though, as did most of the bowlers, presumably to change the angle and cramp the two left-hand batsmen for room, but couldn't pull it off. Dhawan and Parthiv took advantage, lofting the repeated deliveries comfortably outside off stump over the infield.

 

Playing primarily in the air cost Dhawan when he picked out third man in the first over after the Powerplay. Medium pacer David Wiese was the bowler and, buoyed by that big wicket, he went on to turn the tide of the match. He had Parthiv bowled with a slower ball while hitting across the line and Hanuma Vihari caught brilliantly at midwicket with a well-directed short delivery.

 

The local batsmen continued to disappoint for Sunrisers. After Vihari was out for 6, Biplab Samantray was stumped for no score, overbalancing while trying to flick a leg-side delivery. The three big overseas batting options, JP Duminy, Thisara Perera and Darren Sammy, also failed for Sunrisers - after Dhawan was dismissed, they managed just one boundary and 45 runs in the 11 overs. Dhawan apart, they lost five more wickets in the same period.

 

A chunk of the credit for those wickets need go to Titans' sharp fielding. There was Davids' effort to dismiss Vihari - he had run across from square leg to midwicket and leapt to latch on to the skier - then there was Farhaan Behardien's spectacular take at long-off. Sammy had muscled the ball flat and hard in his direction, and Behardien must have been left with stinging palms as he jumped to intercept the rocketing ball.

 

Keeper Mangaliso Mosehle then connected with a direct hit to send Perera back. If it hadn't been for some big hitting by Karn Sharma and Steyn in the final couple of overs - Steyn was particularly brutal on Marchant de Lange in the final over, making room and hitting two fours and two sixes - Titans' top order would have been even less tested than it was.

CLT20 Match 11 Mumbai Indians v Lions

Mumbai Indians 141 for 3 (Smith 63*) beat Lions 140 for 5 (Petersen 35*) by seven wickets


Mumbai Indians were huge favourites going into two previous encounters with Lions in the Champions League, and on both occasions they had come up short.

This time, there was the added pressure of it being a must-win encounter and the challenge of a juicy pitch with pace that reminded the Lions captain, Alviro Petersen, of the track at his home ground in Johannesburg. Mumbai didn't buckle this time, though, coasting to a seven-wicket victory on the back of a typically power-packed half-century from Dwayne Smith and a superb spell from Harbhajan Singh.

The match had been shifted out from Ahmedabad due to the persistent rains there, and while the skies were clearer in Jaipur, there was still an early interruption as the floodlights failed, holding up play for over 20 minutes.

 

Before that, there had been a glimpse of the bounce in the surface as Mitchell Johnson got a short delivery to lift off, flying for a one-bounce four with no intervention from the batsman. Still, the early help in the track which had both captains eager to bowl first didn't bother Lions too much as they reached 40 for 1 after five overs.

 

Mumbai then wrestled the advantage in a passage that began with a Rishi Dhawan maiden.

 

Harbhajan's straighter one - which he used frequently - foxed Quinton de Kock. Neil McKenzie, Lions' hero in both their previous matches against Mumbai, showed glimpses of his ability with a deft reverse-sweep and a supremely-timed six over long-on. He, however, misread Dhawan's incutter to be bowled for 15, and with Pragan Ojha striking in his first two overs, Lions were soon stumbling at 81 for 5.

 

Ojha's third over was taken for two sixes - including a 103m hit by Dwaine Pretorius - as he and Petersen struck a 59-run unbeaten partnership that took Lions to a reasonable total of 140. With the new ball jagging around, beating the bat consistently, Lions still had a chance of defending the total.

Their hopes were raised as the wait for a big score from Sachin Tendulkar continued when he was baffled by a slower one from Sohail Tanvir, and Dinesh Karthik also departed early.

 

A muscular innings from Smith, though, dashed Lions' chances. It was not the most fluent knock, as there were several edges, and he missed the ball repeatedly, but when he connected properly, the ball rocketed to the boundary. His runs came almost exclusively on the leg-side as he used the short-arm pull and the launch over long-on quite effectively.

 

The asking-rate was never out of hand, and even though Kieron Pollard took some time to settle after Rohit Sharma's dismissal, the chase was completed with nine deliveries to spare. Pollard made up for lost time with three big sixes, and Smith stayed till the end to leave Lions hoping for something of a miracle to make it to the semi-finals.

CLT20 Match 10 CSK v Sunrisers

Chennai Super Kings 202 for 4 (Raina 84, Dhoni 63*) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 190 for 7 (Sammy 50, Dhawan 48) by 12 runs


An ebullient finish from MS Dhoni that built on Suresh Raina's consummate half-century set up a 12-run victory for Chennai Super Kings over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ranchi. Dhoni walloped eight sixes and a four, in a 19-ball maraud that brought him 63 not out, after Raina had hit 84 from 57.

Dhoni's bore down most heavily on Thisara Perera, from whose third over was pillaged for a tournament-high 34 runs, with only two of those coming from wides. Sunrisers threatened to chase down Super Kings' 202 for 4 when their openers hit 86 from the first 9 overs, but they lost their way soon after, and were never able to get themselves ahead of the required run rate.
 

Dhoni's intent was clear, almost as soon as he arrived at the crease, when he blasted the second ball he faced - a flighted offbreak from JP Duminy - back over the bowler's head for six. He then cooled his heels for the next two overs, but with another straight six off a Perera half-volley in the 18th over, he engaged annihilation mode.

 

Perera continued to miss his length, and Dhoni mauled his four last deliveries with rare savagery. The second six was whipped off the pads over fine leg; the third, carved inside-out square on the off side; the fourth launched 101 metres into the stand behind; and the fifth - a desperate short, wide ball from a bowler bereft of ideas - upper-cut over third man. Predictably, Perera's bowling duties ceased thereafter, with him having collected by far the worst figures for three-overs, in the tournament's history. His economy rate was a scarcely believable 20.

 

Dhoni was less militant thereafter, but that only meant he scored 20 from his last six deliveries. A square drive off Steyn brought his only four of the innings, before propelling two consecutive Darren Sammy deliveries into the night. His fifty, completed in the final over, came off 16 balls, and was comfortably the quickest of its kind in Champions League cricket, beating Kieron Pollard's fifty off 18.

 

Though Dhoni provided the late surge, Raina's fine hand had lent Super Kings' innings its substance. He was required in the first over after Murali Vijay had edged a Dale Steyn outswinger to slip, and though Steyn continued to move the ball appreciably, Raina stroked two boundaries to finish the over.

 

He then set about consolidating cleverly, often only venturing aggression when the ball deserved punishment, or the run rate threatened to stagnate. The middle overs yielded his most lucrative patch - a seven-ball burst in which he made 23 - and effectively set his side on course for a mammoth total. Having watched Dhoni go postal from the other end, Raina attempted a big hit of his own off Steyn in the penultimate over, but was caught on the long on boundary as a third Twenty20 hundred beckoned.

 

Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel's positivity at the top of the order promised a tight finish, in Sunrisers' response, and they will perhaps feel they ought to have made more of the foundation provided. Both men took educated chances inside the Powerplay, often manufacturing boundaries by moving across or back in the crease to set the chase off at close to its required rate.

 

A hare-brained run out in the 10th over though, began the slide that effectively scuttled Sunrisers' chances. Patel was still mid-pitch when Raina hit the stumps, to capitalise on the batsmen's miscommunication, and inside two overs Dhawan and JP Duminy had also been dismissed.

 

Perera could not redeem himself with the bat, and though Sammy batted valiantly, striking a 25-ball 50, most of it after he made himself lame by clobbering a yorker onto his foot, he was always facing steep odds to pull off the heist.

CLT20 Matches 8 & 9

Otago 242 for 4 (Broom 117*, ten Doeschate 66, de Boorder 45) beat Perth Scorchers 180 for 6 (Cartwright 73) by 62 runs


Exactly at which point Neil Broom had begun to take off is hard to tell. It could be when he struck Burt Cockley for three consecutive fours in the 14th over, or just the sight of Ryan ten Doeschate at the other end, upon which he hit the first of his eight sixes. One can be quite certain that Simon Katich had no idea, because by the time Broom had walked off at the end of the Otago innings having scored an unbeaten 117, the Perth Scorchers captain was looking at a total - 242 for four in 20 overs - far beyond the reaches of his young team.

And it remained so, as they made 180 for 6, and Otago finishing with an emphatic 62-run win. With the win, the New Zealand side not only kick-started their Champions League campaign, they set a few records on the way.

 

They have now completed a streak of 14 consecutive Twenty20 wins, second only to Sialkot Stallion's 25-match winning streak. They had made the highest team score in the Champions League, as well as their best as a team, and Broom became only the fourth batsman to score a hundred in the competition, and the first in two years.

 

Broom was the main man for Otago, hammering, swatting and cracking sixes and fours on his way to a 56-ball unbeaten 117. He smashed nine fours and eight sixes. He played out 14 dot balls, most of them at the start of his innings when he saw two wickets fall in consecutive balls in the third over.

 

There were some nervy moments during his 67-run third wicket stand with Derek de Boorder but that was, as it was later understood by Otago's continuous onslaught, a way to unnerve the Scorchers' bowlers. There were some close calls, including a dropped catch at slip by Adam Voges when de Boorder's slash only found the edge in the fourth over.

 

After de Boorder fell to Voges after making 45 off 28 balls with five fours and two sixes, ten Doeschate weighed in. The Dutch allrounder straightaway went after the bowling, and increasingly, Broom too became aggressive.

 

Broom saw ten Doeschate survive a catch at long-on, the ball trickling over the rope, and still go after the bowling. Both were now on the charge, hounding the younger bowlers with boundaries off the first ball of their overs. They brought up their 100-run stand in just 39 balls, and Otago reached the 200-run mark in the 18th over.

 

Soon, Broom reached his maiden Twenty20 hundred with a swivel pull, one of many leg-side sixes during his marauding knock. He struck three consecutive sixes in the 19th over, the second of which brought up his century. His second fifty came in just 17 balls.

 

The Scorchers' torment worsened when Liam Davis holed out at third man off the first ball of their innings. Ashton Agar, the other opener, fell off the last ball of the over, top-edging to the keeper. And as it happens in such dire situations, there was a run-out, Katich becoming the victim of poor calling with Voges. From 11 for 3, a successful chase looked improbable, to put it mildly.

 

Otago's blitz from 9 for 2 to 242 for 4 should have inspired the Scorchers but they didn't find a Broom among themselves. Only a 65-run fourth wicket stand between Hilton Cartwright and Voges took them out of the slide, before Cartwright added another 51 runs for the fifth wicket with Ashton Turner. Cartwright was unbeaten on 69 off 53 balls with six fours and a couple of sixes.

 

But this will be the most memorable day in Broom's Twenty20 career, having not played for New Zealand since 2010. Otago too have proved themselves as a strong domestic side, though they have a lot to prove in the rest of this tournament.

 

 

Rajasthan Royals 183 for 5 (Hodge 46*, Binny 38, Tsotsobe 2-26) beat Lions 153 for 9 (Petersen 40, Tambe 4-15, Faulkner 2-22, Malik 2-26) by 30 runs

 

 

Brad Hodge's late assault on Lions' bowlers and an unexpected four-wicket burst from legspinner Pravin Tambe propelled Rajasthan Royals to the top of Group A with eight points and also extended their unbeaten run in Jaipur to 10.

Before the start of the match, 160 was thought to be a par score, even though 422 runs had come in the previous match between Otago Volts and Perth Scorchers. But Hodge smashed an unbeaten 46 off 23 deliveries, 20 of them in the last over bowled by Sohail Tanvir, Lions' best bowler in the innings till then, to transform an average start into a match-winning total.

Royals, who were asked to bat, had made slow progress to 69 in their first 10 overs, with their first three batsmen already dismissed. But the innings was revived, first by a brief cameo from Shane Watson, then another equally important innings by Stuart Binny, before the late counterpunch by Hodge.

Over number 13 for Royals was the one that shifted the pendulum their way. Watson and Binny were in the rebuilding mode and the score stood at 83 for 3. Aaron Phangiso, who had bowled his two overs for 15 before that, wasn't prepared for the attack. Watson smashed two sixes and a four, while Binny found the boundary as well to raise the run rate from below seven to above eight.

 

When Phangiso came to bowl the 16th, Watson had been dismissed, but this time Binny went after him, hitting the bowler for a six over wide long-on and following it up with a four through extra cover to spoil Phangiso's figures to 52 runs in four overs.

 

From there on, the baton was passed to Hodge, who first picked up a couple of boundaries in the 17th over bowled by Dwaine Pretorius, and then destroyed Tanvir's tally in the last.

 

Tanvir had only given 15 in his three overs. But he erred by bowling length in the second ball of the last over and Hodge dispatched it to the wide long-on boundary for four. The next ball was short of length and coming into the batsman, but Hodge managed to slap it over cover. He pulled the next over deep square leg for a six before punishing the last one - a fuller length delivery - over long-off.

Lions, in their chase, never got into a position to threaten the total - they lost early wickets, two of them in consecutive deliveries off Vikramjeet Malik - and all hopes of a late fight were doused once Tambe was introduced. Rahul Dravid had brought he 41-year-old legspinner in the team as a response to the pitch that was used for this game and the bowler didn't disappoint. He struck on his third delivery, dismissing Hardus Viljoen, who had added 53 for the fourth wicket with Alviro Petersen.

 

In his second over, he outfoxed Jean Symes with a wide floater that was driven straight to cover and then had Sohail Tanvir plumb in front with a fuller delivery. With six wickets down, the onus was on Petersen to lead the fight, but he missed a quicker leg break in Tambe's third over to virtually end Lions' challenge.

The difference between the two innings could be measured in the four overs Royals took advantage of during their batting. Overs number 8, 13, 16 and 20 were taken for 16, 22, 15 and 21 runs respectively, which meant Royals scored 109 runs in the remaining 16, a run rate of less than seven-an-over. Lions maintained a run rate between seven and eight throughout their innings but failed to find those big overs, the third over with 14 runs being the best for them.

CLT20 Matches 4-7

Heavy rain in Ahmedabad washed out both games on day three of the Champions League T20. Lions captain Alviro Petersen had just enough time to win the toss and elect to bowl against Perth Scorchers before the persistent deluge arrived to wipe out any chance of play.
 

Ground staff covered the square immediately after the toss, but the fourth match of the Champions League T20 was called off around 90 minutes after that, with the ground having taken on a great deal of water. The rain, though, refused to let up, and resulted in the calling off of the next game about half an hour before its scheduled start.

 

The four teams - Otago Volts and Mumbai Indians were to play the second game - took two points each. Mumbai now have just two points from their first two games after they lost their opener to Rajasthan Royals. This was the first match for Lions, Otago and Scorchers.

 

Match 6: Titans 123 (Davids 39, Gale 4-10) beat Brisbane Heat 119 (Hopes 37, de Lange 3-13) by four runs

 

 

Less-than-perfect batting and excellent bowling usually make for tight contests and today was no different, with both teams being dismissed on a fast Mohali pitch. Titans bounced back from being all out for 123, to beating Brisbane Heat by four runs, in the most exciting finish of the tournament so far. The loss, the Heat's second, drastically reduced their chances of making the semi-finals.

 

Heat had lost their first match in similar fashion, too, failing to chase Trinidad & Tobago's 135. Today's pursuit posed a similar challenge, but they disintegrated against controlled fast bowling. They needed 10 of the final over, bowled by Marchant de Lange, but they lost three wickets instead, two because of run-outs. The match ended with de Lange bowling Alister McDermott.

 

Titans needed a strong performance to defend a low total and de Lange led the way, pulling his team out of the batting rut with pace and verve. Debutant Matthew Gale's four wickets had put the Heat in a strong position, but their wayward batting cost them on a quick surface, the kind Australian sides are supposed to be familiar with.

 

Titans captain, Henry Davids, once again opened the bowling with Roelof van der Merwe's left-arm spin, but it was Rowan Richards who provided the breakthrough by dismissing Joe Burns. De Lange then hurt the chase by striking twice in his first over: Peter Forrest's uppish clip was caught at square-leg, and Cutting top-edged an 89-mph ball he didn't know much about.

 

James Hopes, the Heat captain, and Daniel Christian attempted to revive the innings, and they almost did with a 44-run stand for the fourth wicket, but they fell in quick succession. Christian's stumps was shattered by Richards, while Hopes fell to van der Merwe after having survived a missed stumping the previous ball.

 

The rising asking-rate needed to be brought down but the Heat lower order continued to struggle against pace. Morne Morkel and David Wiese bowled well too, picking up a wicket each, but de Lange and Richards were the most impressive. De Lange finished with three wickets, including bowling a tense last over.

 

Heat's batting failure followed a dramatic Titans collapse after the South African side had made a strong start. Gale dismissed Jacques Rudolph in the second over, but Davids and Heino Kuhn counterattacked immediately during the fielding restrictions. They were particularly harsh on Alister McDermott, who conceded 16 in his first over, the sixth of the innings.

 

The second wicket had added 69 in quick time when Kuhn skied Ben Cutting after making 31 off 27 balls. Davids followed soon after for 39 off 31 balls, run out while attempting a risky single.

 

Wickets tumbled quickly thereafter, with the big one - AB de Villiers - also getting run out after a mix-up with Farhaan Behardien in the 15th over. The rest of the batsmen threw their wickets away, with the last three falling in the 19th over bowled by Gale. A total of 123 seemed below par at the time, but Titans' quicks proved it was just enough.

 

 

Match 7: Sunrisers Hyderabad 164 for 6 (Perera 57*, Narine 4-9) beat Trinidad and Tobago 160 for 8 (Bravo 66, Sammy 2-21) by four wickets

 

 

Sunrisers Hyderabad were subjected to an examination of their batting depth and, in their opening game of the tournament's main draw, showed that they could look after themselves even without much assistance from Shikhar Dhawan. Trinidad & Tobago were in control for the most part of the second innings, but Thisara Perera's fearless hitting narrowed the gap between the runs required and balls remaining to take Sunrisers home in a tense chase of 161.

The first game of the day - between Titans and Brisbane Heat - was a low-scoring one, with the fast bowlers taking control in helpful conditions. However, as the evening wore on, the dew became a factor and the margin for error was minimal for the bowlers, who struggled to bowl the lengths they wanted. Sunil Narine's parsimonious and incisive spell of 4 for 9 kept T&T in the hunt but Perera not only managed to survive him but ensured he stayed till the end. Perera's knock had its fair share of slogs that only connected thin air, some dangerously close to the outside edge, but he cleared the rope four times and his timely boundaries ensured Sunrisers were always in the hunt.

Dhawan gave Sunrisers a start with a brisk 23, but when he popped the simplest of catches to Navin Stewart, it was game on. It was then down to the experience of JP Duminy to restore some order, but his run-out - caught ball-watching - gave T&T the edge. Sunrisers were going at seven an over when Duminy was dismissed, and the required rate was over nine.

Perera walked in and smashed his second ball for six, over long-off. T&T had to be careful not to feed him length balls on middle and leg, Perera's favourite hitting zone. Rayad Emrit made the mistake of bowling there and was duly smashed for a four and six off consecutive balls to deep midwicket. Narine had a struggling Hanuma Vihari stumped for 18 and proceeded to bowl out a wicket maiden, silencing Darren Sammy who opted to see off T&T's best bowler.

Perera released the pressure the following over with two boundaries off Emrit. He had a lucky escape on 32 when he pulled Ravi Rampaul to deep midwicket, only for Lendl Simmons to palm the ball over the rope while attempting a tough catch. Emrit's final over cost T&T as he leaked 23. He started off with two wides before getting smashed by Sammy over deep midwicket. The dew may have been responsible for the low full tosses which were put away. Poor catching didn't help T&T's cause either as Sammy was also let off in the same over.

Narine returned for his final over to nip out two wickets in two balls, but Perera's was the wicket T&T were desperate for. It came down to seven needed off the last over but Perera showed enough trust in Karn Sharma, who sealed the win in style with a six over deep square leg.

After losing the toss, T&T had been boosted by Darren Bravo who adopted a similar aggressive approach on a surface that was seamer friendly. T&T looked set to post much more, but the Sunrisers seamers shared seven wickets between then to keep them down to a competitive 160.

CLT20 Matches 2 & 3 Heat v T&T, CSK v Titans

Trinidad & Tobago 135 for 9 (Ramdin 48, McDermott 4-37) beat Brisbane Heat 110 (Burns 45, Rampaul 4-14) by 25 runs

A fearsome attack led by Ravi Rampaul set Trinidad & Tobago's Champions League campaign off on a triumphant note, as they comfortably defended 135 for 9, against Brisbane Heat in Ranchi. An intense Rampaul was both economical and penetrative throughout his spells in the innings, and although Heat may have been pleased to chase so few, they were rarely granted more than a brief glimpse of victory during the chase. Rampaul finished with four wickets for 14 from 3.4 overs, with Sunil Narine, Rayad Emrit and Samuel Badree also contributing fine spells.
 

Denesh Ramdin played something of a lone hand to give his attack a reasonable target to defend, as he hit 48 from 38 after Heat had sent T&T in to bat. No other batsman breached 20 for T&T, as Heat's quick bowlers enjoyed the bounce in the Ranchi strip, as well as the slight movement early on. 

 

Rampaul found swing early on, but it was his impeccable line that set the tone for T&T's bowling effort. Often pitching short of length, Rampaul cramped the Heat's openers for space, and soon dismissed captain James Hopes, who played on coming forward in the third over.

 

Rampaul's first spell lasted only two overs, but the rest of the bowlers matched his discipline. Heat had only lost one wicket at the end of the Powerplay, but could not manage a run rate better than 3.66. Subsequent attempts to reel in the required run rate were often short-lived, and retarded by dismissals. Only Joe Burns had the measure of the attack, but even he could not achieve a laudable strike rate. When Rampaul returned in the 16th over to break Burns' leg stump, the batsman had hit 45 from 43.

 

Ben Cutting's 17 from 10 only hinted at a revival for Heat and his run out, at the end of the 18th over, secured the match for T&T. Rampaul's last over yielded the two final wickets, as Heat were dismissed for 110 with eight balls still remaining.

 

Seventeen balls into T&T's innings, openers Lendl Simmons and Evin Lewis had promised a profitable first stand, but their confident blows to the square fence soon gave way to tame batting errors, and No. 5 batsman Ramdin was at the crease sooner than he would have liked - after 4.4 overs. A four off an inside edge got Ramdin under way, but he found the middle of the bat almost immediately, as he guided a wide delivery from Kemar Roach over the slips for four.

 

Ramdin's progress steadied after those boundaries, as he rebuilt the innings from 38 for 3.

 

He ventured an advancing six off Nathan Hauritz in the ninth over but, as wickets continued to tumble at the other end, Ramdin was content to deal in singles and twos. Jason Mohammed and Sherwin Ganga departed off consecutive deliveries, and 17-year-old Nicolas Pooran managed only 8 off 16 balls in his Champions League debut.

 

At 83 for 6 after 14 overs, Ramdin's hopes of setting a total close to 150 had grown slim, but he slogged a four and a six off Cutting in the next over to help inject some urgency into a stagnating innings. Ramdin was out not long after, but Samuel Badree, coming in at No. 10, engaged a previous avatar as a batsman and took T&T beyond 130 by striking two straight sixes in the 16-run final over.

 

 

Chennai Super Kings 187 for 6 (Hussey 47, Raina 47) beat Titans 185 for 5 (De Villiers 77, Davids 52) by 4 wickets

 

Chennai Super Kings did what they set out to do, successfully chasing down a big total after putting Titans in to bat. They made it look easier than it was, certainly when Suresh Raina and Michael Hussey were at the crease. Dwayne Bravo batted breezily as well, ensuring the four-wicket win with seven balls to spare.

 

Super Kings had to recover from a bad start in pursuit of 186, after M Vijay was bowled by Roelof van der Merwe in the opening over of the chase. The South African side held the momentum at that stage, having already put up an impressive score courtesy of AB de Villiers' brutal innings of 77 and plenty of wayward bowling.

 

But the Titans' bowlers were more wayward, giving Raina and Hussey the freedom to settle themselves. The two batsmen also had to contend with a 10-minute break due to light failure after the first wicket fell. But once Rowan Richards, Morne Morkel and Marchant de Lange gave away 13, 24 and 14 respectively off the third, fourth and fifth over, it eased the run-rate pressure considerably.

 

The pair added 89 for the second wicket at over 12 an over before Raina fell to David Wiese in the eighth over. He made 47 off 28 balls with two sixes and five fours, having peppered the open field on the leg-side.

 

Hussey stayed on for a bit more, but also fell three short of his fifty, in the tenth over. His 47 came off 26 balls, with seven fours and a six. Similar to Raina, his dismissal too was a soft one as Super Kings looked to the next pair to finish the job.

 

Bravo and S Badrinath added 58 for the fourth wicket, with the West Indies allrounder bringing out his famous lofted shots on the off-side - he struck two inside-out sixes over cover. He fell, and was followed by Dhoni and Jadeja too, but Albie Morkel eased any nerves by picking up the winning runs in the 19th over.

 

Richards, the left-arm fast bowler, took three wickets, but it came too late for Titans to force the issue.

 

AB de Villiers was Titans' star with the bat. He was eventually dismissed in the penultimate over, but not before he had satiated himself with seven sixes and three fours in a 36-ball 77. There was hardly a mis-hit from his bat, and the sound it made for two off his sixes over midwicket was scrumptious.

 

He ran hard during the 76-run second wicket stand with his captain Henry Davids, who himself got 52 off 43 balls. Davids struck two sixes, one each off Jason Holder and R Ashwin. Their partnership also came at a superb rate, 12.32, with de Villiers contributing 43 runs. His fifty came off just 27 balls and his innings bloated Titan's total, with expensive overs in the middle-period: 14, 14, 17 and 18 came off the 11th, 12th, 13th and 19th overs.

 

But Dwayne Bravo pulled things back with two wickets in the 18th over and next over, when he took the skier offered by de Villiers off Ravindra Jadeja. Jadeja might have got the big wicket, but it was a truly forgettable day for him: apart from being spanked for 49 runs in three overs, he picked up a two-ball duck. Hussey and Raina, though, made sure his off day didn't cost Super Kings.

CLT20 Match 1: Rajasthan v Mumbai

Rajasthan Royals 148 for 3 (Samson 54) beat Mumbai Indians 142 for 7 (Rohit 44, Pollard 42, Malik 3-24) by 7 wickets


We have moved on from the IPL to the Champions League T20 qualifiers, and from there to Champions League proper, but some things haven't changed. Rajasthan Royals stay unbeaten at home in 2013. Poor shots keep making games interesting. And ordinary umpiring keeps playing a significant role.

After an early shower delayed the start by 15 minutes, Royals asked the IPL champions to bat first on a pitch with fresh grass, and kept them down to 142 thanks to Vikramjeet Malik, who possibly wouldn't have been playing had Siddharth Trivedi not been suspended for one year for not reporting an approach by bookies. Mitchell Johnson and Nathan Coulter-Nile, the latter playing in the absence of Lasith Malinga, put Royals batsmen through a stern test, but were frustrated by Sanju Samson having escaped a plumb lbw when on one.

 

Samson went on to become the youngest player to score a fifty in the CLT20. More importantly, it helped Royals home. The knock wasn't as convincing as the scorebook will show: even his fifty came up with a massive outside edge on the heave, he was beaten next ball, and then - clearly out of place against fast, short bowling - gloved one over the keeper. Then again, it was hardly a night where things were what they seemed to be.

 

Mumbai's team sheet slated the comeback man Sachin Tendulkar at No. 4, Rahul Dravid said his side needed no spinner, and the grass on the pitch promised high and consistent bounce. Tendulkar came out to open, part-time spinner Ashok Menaria bowled the first over, and Malik bowled a nasty grubber in the second over to trap Dwayne Smith lbw.

 

Mumbai hardly looked comfortable against the movement, losing wickets regularly until Rohit Sharma and Kieron Pollard added 52 for the fifth wicket. Rohit, though, edged the returning Watson a ball after hitting him for a six, leaving Pollard with a lot to do. Pollard threatened to do the lot, but in the last over of the innings - when a 20 from him looked possible - he edged a wide half-volley through to the keeper.

 

Coulter-Nile hit a six and a four to give Mumbai some momentum going into the second innings, and got lucky with the ball too when Rahul Dravid cut a wide ball straight to point. Johnson wasn't as lucky when he had Samson dead in front to a 150kmph swinger. Bruce Oxenford was the only man who didn't agree. Samson and Ajinkya Rahane weathered that testing spell, and then targeted the two Mumbai spinners.

 

Pragyan Ojha was welcomed with a six over extra cover, and Harbhajan Singh was punished every time he bowled short and flat. Just when it looked like the two could finish the game off, Rahane ended the 74-run partnership with an ugly swipe. Samson continued his merry ride - he should consider taking it all the way to a casino - until a Pollard short ball got too big for him but wasn't fast enough to take the top edge behind the stumps over the infield.

 

Royals needed 36 off 27 then, and Shane Watson and Stuart Binny finally made sure there was a departure from the IPL: there was no twist in the end. Well, there might have been one when Watson played put two dots in the last over with two required, but Pollard let him off with a misfield.

CLT20 Friday's final qualifiers

Faisalabad Wolves 146 for 6 (Misbah 93*, Lokuhettige 3-21) beat Kandurata Maroons 136 for 7 (Sangakkara 44, Adil 3-26) by 10 runs

The two eliminated teams produced similar performances in a dead rubber that ultimately ended in a tame finish in Mohali: poor top-order contributions, shoddy catching, inconsistent ground fielding, and one solid effort with the bat. The primary reason Faisalabad Wolves won, and Kandurata Maroons did not, was that Misbah-ul-Haq batted the distance for his team, while Kumar Sangakkara could not.

The result ended the run of victories for the chasing team at the PCA Stadium, and ensured Faisalabad had something to show for their trip to India, which had seemed uncertain due to confusion over visas. Kandurata Warriors, the hastily formed Sri Lankan T20 champions, ended their campaign with no wins from their three games.

The opening over of the game, bowled by Nuwan Kulasekara, was error strewn and set the tone for a tepid game. Ammar Mahmood mis-hit the first ball, but just cleared the leaping fielder at mid-on, treading on the right side of the thin line between failure and four. Mahmood mis-hit the second too, this time offering a catch to mid-off, where Thilina Kandamby dropped a waist-high sitter. Off the fourth, he survived an lbw appeal and ran a leg bye. While Mahmood lived through three mistakes, his partner Ali Waqas departed after his first, edging an outswinger behind to Sangakkara.

 

Amid strong gusts of wind in Mohali, Kulasekara returned in the fourth over and induced another edge, this time from Asif Ali, leaving Faisalabad on 20 for 2, needing to be rescued once again by their captain and Man of the Match, Misbah.

 

It nearly didn't happen. Faisalabad were 27 for 3 and Misbah was on 1 when he lofted Milinda Siriwardana to long-off, where the fielder misjudged the catch and parried it for the innings' first six. In Siriwardene's next over, Misbah carted him again, this time clear over the sightscreen.

 

After ten overs, Faisalabad were only 58 for 4 but Misbah finally had a steady partner in Mohammad Salman. The acceleration came against Suraj Randiv, with Misbah cutting and sweeping the spinner for consecutive fours before hitting a clean straight six in the 16th over, which cost Kandurata 19 runs. Another big over followed - 16 runs off Kulasekara - and the partnership was worth 74 in 8.4 overs before Salman fell for 21, via a one-handed catch from Lahiru Jayaratne, leaping backwards at deep midwicket.

 

A six off the first ball off the final over and a brace of doubles took Misbah into the nineties but Kulasekara finished strongly, limiting Faisalabad to 146, of which Misbah had made 93. He had made 195 runs in three qualifying matches; the rest of the Faisalabad batsmen had only 190.

 

Totals of this size had been chased comfortably in the previous games, and Kandurata got going with three consecutive fours from Upul Tharanga in the second over of the innings. However, a couple of mis-timed lofts and slow scoring reduced the Sri Lankan side to virtually the same position Faisalabad had been at the end of ten overs - 57 for 3.

 

Faisalabad did not help their cause, dropping Sangakkara on 17, and Silva on 2. However, Sangakkara did not find a partner like Misbah had, and with the burden of scoring falling squarely on him, he eventually holed out to deep midwicket for 44.

 

The asking rate rose steadily after that, to beyond ten an over, and the contest was killed off by Ali Asad in the 19th over. With 25 runs to defend, he conceded only 2, ensuring Misbah's rescue act with the bat was not in vain.

 

 

Otago Volts 144 for 5 (B McCullum 67*, Steyn 2-13) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 143 for 5 (Duminy 57*, N McCullum 2-23) by 5 wickets

 

Otago Volts completed their victorious run in the Champions League T20 qualifiers with their third comprehensive win, against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Both teams had already made the main draw of the tournament. Otago's bowlers first stifled the Sunrisers top order before JP Duminy took them to 143, and then their deep batting line-up was barely stretched as they won with 22 balls to spare.

The victory was set up by the McCullum brothers: Nathan dismissed both Sunrisers openers during an economical spell with the new-ball and Brendon's 33-ball fifty spurred Otago to their 13th consecutive T20 win, which brought them joint second with Surrey, behind Sialkot Stallions' 25 successive victories.

Otago were given a brisk start by openers Hamish Rutherford and Neil Broom, who attacked Ishant Sharma in his first over. Dale Steyn, however, kept it tight from the other end and had Broom caught behind for 16 in his second over. Sunrisers' introduction of spin in the fourth over did not work, with Rutherford taking Karn Sharma for consecutive fours. Darren Sammy was introduced next and Brendon McCullum pulled him for six first ball.

Rutherford's brisk innings was also ended by Steyn, as he tried to pull down the leg side and gloved to the keeper. Amit Mishra gave Sunrisers hope when he bowled the in-form Ryan ten Doeschate with a googly, but No. 5 Jimmy Neesham eased the nerves by attacking the two legspinners over midwicket, bringing the required run rate under six.

 

Sunrisers were running out of bowling options as Ishant, Karn Sharma and Sammy were being carted around the ground.

After surviving a stumping, Brendon McCullum virtually ended the chase in the 15th over, when he clobbered Ishant for 22, reducing the equation to 8 from 30 balls. Both Brendon McCullum and Neesham were later dismissed but an Otago victory was a formality.

Though they were without frontline quicks Ian Butler and James McMillan, Otago had ended Sunrisers' prolific batting form in the tournament. Nathan McCullum opened the bowling and stifled the openers Parthiv and Shikhar Dhawan, aiming for the stumps from round the wicket. He trapped Dhawan twice in front of the stumps in his first two overs but the umpire turned both the appeals down. He was rewarded later, bowling Parthiv for 12 and getting Dhawan caught at mid-on as the batsman tried to clear the in-field.

Biplab Samantray also survived two appeals, off successive deliveries, when Neil Wagner struck him in front of the stumps. He soon holed out against Michael Bracewell at long-on, where Bracewell caught the ball, threw it up, stepped over the boundary and back into play to catch it again.

Sunrisers were 45 for 3 and JP Duminy and Cameron White, who came in for Thisara Perera, revived the innings with a 40-run stand. Duminy found gaps regularly and rotated the strike with White, who departed for 25 before Sammy gave them another push with two sixes in the 17th over.

Duminy made a 35-ball fifty, and helped score 52 from the last five overs, but Sunrisers needed a lot more to challenge Otago.

CLT20 Wednesday's qualifiers

Otago Volts 157 for 4 (ten Doeschate 64, Lokuhettige 3-20) beat Kandurata Maroons 154 for 9 (Tharanga 76, Butler 3-21) by six wickets

Ryan ten Doeschate's bruising 64 from 32 broke the back of a mediocre Kandurata Maroons total, and all but secured Otago Volts' place in the Champions League proper, while very nearly damning their opponents to the opposite fate. The match had been set up again by the discipline of the Otago's fast men, who kept Kandurata down to 154 for 9, despite the best efforts of Upul Tharanga, who hit 76 from 56.

Ten Doeschate had not played the first match of the qualifiers, having not been released in time from Essex to come to India. The match was finely poised at 45 for 2, when he arrived at the crease, but within three overs, he had injected Volt's innings with the adrenaline that would not abate until the finish.

 

Kandurata's spinners had prospered in the first ten overs, but legspinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi could extract little turn from the surface, and it was off his first three balls that the match pivoted. Ten Doeschate charged the first, striking it long and straight, before hanging back to wallop his second six, over mid-on this time. The third six was swept flatter and squarer, and after that 20-run over, Otago needed only play sensibly to achieve the target.

 

A short period of consolidation followed that burst, but the boundaries began again in earnest in the 15th over, with James Neesham joining in. A square boundary off Nuwan Kulasekara's third over gave ten Doeschate his fifty off 26 balls, and when he had departed after another lucrative over, Otago needed only 9 from 17 balls. Neesham needed only five of those.

 

In Kandurata's innings, Tharanga was starved of his early penchant for off-side boundaries by a shrewd Otago strategy that prevented the kind of start he had achieved in their first match.

 

McCullum placed a cover sweeper almost from the outset, and had his pace bowlers pitch it full and wide. If Tharanga flashed at the ball, he brought the two slips and catching infielders into play. If he played it along the ground, he would not muster enough power into the stroke to earn more than two.

 

Kandurata hit only 25 in the Powerplay as a result, and it wasn't until Nathan McCullum's offspin was introduced that Tharanga's innings finally gained traction. Two balls disappeared long and straight during the eighth over, and Tharanga exacted as heavy a toll in McCullum's next over, which also went for 15.

 

While he propelled the innings though, Otago made regular gains at the other end. Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne had both hit fifties in the first match, but were dismissed cheaply here, as short spells from Nick Beard and ten Doeschate crimped the scoring rate.

 

Having been 132 for 4 after 17 overs, Kandurata might have felt they should have surged beyond 160, but a fine 18th over from Ian Butler, from which three wickets were gleaned, left Kandurata at a sub-par total. Butler finished with the best figures for the Volts, earning 3 for 21, with James McMillan having taken 1 for 17 from his three overs.

 

This was Otago's 12th consecutive T20 win, the joint third longest streak in the format and, more importantly, leaves them on the verge of qualifying to the main tournament.

 

Sunrisers Hyderabad 131 for 3 (Dhawan 59) beat Faisalabad Wolves 127 for 5 (Misbah 56*) by seven wickets

 

The match was over as a competition in the 14th over of Sunrisers Hyderabad's chase. Saeed Ajmal had bowled his last over, remained wicketless and mostly ineffective. Shikhar Dhawan soon reached his second consecutive half-century in the Champions League Twenty20. In the 18th over, Sunrisers completed a seven-wicket victory over the Faisalabad Wolves, and eased into the group stages of the competition.

 

The result also ensured that Otago Volts, who had beaten Kandurata Maroons earlier in the day, also qualified. Sunrisers look to be the most well-balanced side among the four qualifiers, and will provide competition for the rest of the pack.

 

Dhawan's fifty came off 48 balls, and it had his usual dose of pleasing off-side strokes as well as some slogs. His only six was hit between reaching his fifty and getting out to left-arm spinner Imran Khalid. He added 68 for the first wicket with Parthiv Patel, before a 44-run stand with Jean-Paul Duminy during which they got over a tricky period when the ball kept low. Biplab Samantray got out for a duck to a beauty from Khalid, but Duminy and Darren Sammy completed the win.

 

Dhawan, Patel and Duminy tackled Ajmal quite well, but the offspinner was tasked with defending a low total in a ground favoured by chasing sides. The Faisalabad bowling was as insipid as their batting, except for their captain Misbah-ul-Haq who, like his time as Pakistan captain, played a lone hand.

 

Faisalabad's innings ran out of juice as soon as the Powerplay overs were completed, by when they had raced to 44 for 0. But two wickets fell in the next two overs and the run-rate fell too, as Sunrisers reclaimed momentum.

 

Amit Mishra made the difference at that stage, as he bowled four tight overs on the trot. His figures, 4-1-13-1, stunted Faisalabad's hopes of getting the score past 150. He started off with a wicket off his second ball when Ali Waqas flicked him to deep midwicket. Mishra's line was immaculate for most of the four overs, as he accumulated 17 dot balls. The only boundary in a spell that caused plenty of damage to Faisalabad's confidence was in his final over when Misbah launched him straight down the ground.

 

There was a danger of the Pakistan Twenty20 champions slipping further, but with Misbah around, they had fight at one end. Misbah struck five sixes and a four in his unbeaten 40-ball 56, becoming the oldest batsman - at the age of 39 - to score a fifty in the Champions League Twenty20.

 

He was playing a young man's game but his running between the wickets, the five sixes and the fight he provided showed he was in his element. He slammed four of his sixes down the ground, and the last one off Thisara Perera over square-leg, a timely and powerful swivel of the bat.

 

But despite all his efforts, Faisalabad's first Champions League campaign is set to be a short one as there was too much for Misbah and Ajmal to do.

CLT20 Qualifier Marrons v Sunrisers

Sunrisers Hyderabad 174 for 2 (Dhawan 71, Patel 52) beat Kandurata Maroons 168 for 3 (Sangakkara 61*, Thirimanne 54, Ishant 2-20) by eight wickets

A century-stand between Shikhar Dhawan and Parthiv Patel, both of whom scored effortless half-centuries, and a late cameo by Thisara Perera helped Sunrisers Hyderabad cruise to an eight-wicket win over Kandurata Maroons. Kumar Sangakkara and Lahiru Thirimanne also scored aggressive half-centuries to set up a strong target, but Kandurata's bowling and fielding crumbled against persistent attack from Sunrisers' batsmen to be left in a position from where they need to win both their remaining matches.

Chasing 169, Dhawan and Parthiv never let the pressure of the chase build as they kept finding the boundaries from the start of the innings. It was Parthiv who got the chase going with a flurry of boundaries through the off side, but Dhawan soon caught up with his partner with well-timed shots on either side of the ground and in the form that he has displayed this year, there was not much the bowlers could do to stem the flow of runs.

 

Kandurata, in a bid to curtail the burgeoning opening stand, threw the ball to Ajantha Mendis in the sixth over but he was greeted by three consecutive boundaries from Dhawan. Parthiv was hitting the ball twice as hard as Dhawan while getting only half the speed behind it, but on a true pitch and a fast outfield, he too derived full value for his shots. The two batsmen took the score past 100 in the 11th over.

Kandurata sensed a comeback when 33 were required off the last 23 deliveries after Dhawan's dismissal, but Perera smashed four boundaries and two sixes to finish off the challenge.

 

In a game in which eight of the nine batsmen to bat were left-handers, Sangakkara and Thirimanne had played risk-free knocks to power Kandurata to a strong total. The two batsmen rotated the strike for a few overs, maintaining a run-rate of more than six, and started accelerating in the second half of the innings.

 

Thirimanne was the more aggressive of the two, bringing up his half-century off 37 deliveries, but after hitting Ishant Sharma for two boundaries in the 15th over, missed a yorker. Sangakkara took over the scoring from that point onwards, finding boundaries at will with clever flicks and deft touches as he brought up his half-century off 36 balls. But he was not left with the pressure of scoring all the runs - Dilhara Lokuhettige played a brisk innings of 21 off 10 deliveries - as Kandurata ransacked 56 from the last five overs.

 

Dale Steyn, coming off a three-month injury lay-off, struggled with his rhythm; he bowled a leg-stump line in the first over and was taken for 15 runs. While Steyn was off colour, the presence of left-handers in Kandurata's line-up meant Dhawan hesitated from using the two legspinners in the side. Amit Mishra was introduced in the 15th over and bowled just one over while Karan Sharma didn't get to bowl.

Champions League T20 Qualfier Faisalabad v Otago

Faisalabad Wolves 139/8 (20/20 ov)

Otago 142/2 (17.5/20 ov)

 

Otago won by 8 wickets (with 13 balls remaining)

 

A menacing opening burst from Otago Volts' fast bowlers and a well-measured mauling from Brendon McCullum delivered them an eight-wicket victory over Faisalabad Wolves, who failed to compete in any discipline. All four Otago's quicks bowled out, but none conceded more than 6.5 an over and shared seven wickets between them.

Misbah-ul-Haq the batsman might have his reputation embellished, after hitting a 34-ball 46 that ensured that there was a contest, but as a captain he will perhaps attract yet more scrutiny for misreading the Mohali pitch, and handing the opposition a clear advantage by batting first. McCullum's thoughtfully-constructed 83 not out from 65 made light work of Faisalabad's 139, and Otago reached their target with 13 balls to spare.

James McMillan might not even have played this match, had Jacob Duffy been fit, but his impact on the match was immediate and far reaching. Ammar Mahmood struck the first ball of the match powerfully for four, but could not get McMillan's first ball further than point, who knelt to take a straightforward catch.

 

That over cost one run and had reaped one wicket, and were it not for an inside edge off the last ball, McMillan's second over would have been no less impressive. Otago's seam collective wasted little of that early momentum, as they rarely veered far from the stumps in the early overs, and had Faisalabad hobbling at 34 for 3 in the eighth over.

 

With that dismally familiar scoreline beckoning Misbah to the crease, he rolled up his sleeves to launch another dutiful recovery, as he has done for Pakistan so many times in the last year. He found a like-minded partner in Khurram Shehzad, and the pair began reclaiming ground in steady shovelfuls at first, before Misbah felt he had the measure of the pace-friendly Mohali dirt.

 

A legside six off Nathan McCullum in the 12th over foreshadowed the aggression to follow, which would yield Faisalabad their most profitable over of the innings. In the 14th, Misbah walloped two more sixes and a four in the same cow-corner region, off the same bowler, hauling his side's run rate beyond six for the first time since the first over.

Though Khurram had clung on in Misbah's company to help forge a 61-run stand, he could not match his captain's attacking competence, and departed for 27 off 36, just as the innings might have moved into a phase of dominance, had he stayed around. Misbah's progress slowed, as Otago's disciplined pace bowlers returned in full force, and he was bowled making room to hit through the offside, off the last ball of the 17th over.

 

McCullum did not allow poor balls to go unpunished early in his innings, but atypically, he did not go looking for trouble either. Neil Broom had departed in the first over, and with a modest score to chase, a return of 16 from his first 20 balls did not seem to irk him. Three Hamish Rutherford sixes saw Otago eclipse the required rate in the Powerplay overs, and McCullum sought nothing more than to maintain that steady momentum for the majority of his innings.

 

Eventually he grew bold, after he and Derek de Boorder had put on more than 50 for the third wicket, and Faisalabad's efforts sagged as the game slipped from them. Having progressed to 50 at just under run-a-ball, McCullum took them home with a flurry of thumping hits, and secured a fine net-run-rate, should it be required further down the line.