By IANS
Panchkula (Haryana) : Call it irony, but the much-fancied Mumbai Champions team registered their first win in the Indian Cricket League (ICL)’s Twenty20 championship Monday on a day when their captain and star player Brian Lara did not bat.
The Champs, already knocked out of the tournament’s semi-final line up after their fourth successive defeat Sunday, beat Kolkata Tigers by 7 runs to get their first win in the tournament.
The Champs, who won the toss, scored 187 runs for the loss of just three wickets with useful contributions from S.N. Khanolkar (64 runs from 39 balls) and Subhojit Paul (50 runs from 41 balls).
Lara, who failed to click in the entire tournament with a string of poor scores of 0, 4, 3 and 9 runs, did not come out to bat at all.
In reply, Kolkata Tigers, who had a good start from its top five batsmen, could not chase the target of 188 runs – falling short by 7 runs – as their team ran out of overs. The Tigers lost nine wickets.
New Zealander Nathan Astle took 3 wickets for 26 runs for the Champs.
The Champs got their first two points in the championship.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Champs – 187 runs for 3 wickets in 20 overs.
Batting: S.N. Khanolkar – 64 runs from 39 balls, Subhojit Paul – 50 runs from 41 balls.
Bowling – Lance Klusener – 2 wickets for 29 runs.
Kolkata Tigers – 180 runs for 9 wickets from 20 overs
Batting: A.A. Jhunjhunwala 32 runs from 22 balls.
Bowling: Nathan Astle – 3 wickets for 26 runs.