Gujarat Giants tame Manipal Tigers

LUCKNOW: Gujarat Giants registered an emphatic win over rivals Manipal Tigers in the second match of the Legends League played at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Stadium on Monday. This was Gujarat’s second consecutive victory and Manipal Tigers’ second defeat in a row.
By the dint of their disciplined bowling, Gujarat Giants bowled out Manipal Tigers for 120 runs. Gujarat’s Parthiv Patel (34), Kevin O’Brien (23) and Thisara Perera (22) played spectacular innings to help the team achieve the target in 17.2 overs at the loss of eight wickets.
Gujarat Giants’ star players, captain Virendra Sehwag and Kevin O’Brien, started the innings but Sehwag (1) was caught by Awana in the second over on a delivery by Mpofu.Chris Mofu, captain Harbhajan Singh and Joginder Sharma performed impressively for Manipal Tigers, taking two wickets each. Muttiah Muralitharan, playing as a super sub, also took two wickets.
After early setbacks, Gujarat Giants regained lost ground with the partnership between Parthiv (34) and Kevin (23). Parthiv hit a six and six boundaries. Kevin was dismissed when the team was at 66 at the loss of four wickets. Lendi Simmons (12) was caught by Ravikant Shukla on a delivery by Harbhajan Singh in the 11th over. Thisara Perera gave pace to the game by hitting four boundaries and scored 22 runs of 20 balls before being caught by Tatenda Taibu on Harbajan’s ball.
Joginder Sharma played 17 balls to score 12 runs and was clean bowled by Muralitharan. Graeme Swann made nine runs in six balls and was dismissed by Muralitharan. Yashpal Singh (9) and Rayad Imrit (0) remained not out. Parthiv Patel was named the man of the match as well as the gamechanger of the match.
Earlier, Manipal Tigers scored 120 runs in the stipulated 20 overs at the loss of eight wickets. Manipal Tigers lost their first wicket in the form of Shivakant Shukla in the third over of the innings when he was run out by KP Appanna at 11 runs. In the fifth over, Swapnil Asnodkar (5) was clean bowled by Emrit. Taitenda Taibu could score just one run before falling prey to Ashok Dinda.
Star batter Mohd Kaif hit two boundaries and scored 24 runs before being stopped by Ashok Dinda.