By IANS
Panchkula (Haryana) : A sizzling unbeaten 86 by Rajagopal Sathish saw defending Champions Chennai Superstars beat Kolkata Tigers by 32 runs and finish third in the Edelweiss 20s Challenge of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) here Friday.
The 27-year-old batsman struck his 86 run in just 42 balls to help Superstars pile up a commanding total of 184 for four in the allotted 20 overs after skipper Stuart Law won the toss and elected to bat on a batsmen friendly pitch.
It was expected to be a keenly contested match with pride & significant financial incentive of 50 lakhs at stake in this match. In the end, the former champions, Chennai Superstars convincingly beat the Tigers by 32runs. R. Sathish was declared the man of the match.
The Superstars started their innings with Ganapathy Vignesh (40 in 19 balls) and V. Devendran (7) in absence of Australian Ian Harvey and the opening duo gave Superstars a flying start scoring 26 runs in the opening three overs.
However, pacer Abu Nechim (28/3) got the Tigers’ right back into the match striking double blow in the seventh over to put Superstars in a spot of bother at 59 for three.
He first took dangerman Vignesh and one ball later got the important wicket of in-form Russel Arnold
From then onwards, Satish and Hemang Badani, who scored run-a-ball 36, launched an onslaught to the help Superstars post a formidable target before the Tigers.
In reply, the Tigers, who had given Lahore Badshahs anxious moments in the semi-final Thurday, were bundled out for 154 in 18.4 overs.
Skipper Craig Mac Millan (35) was the top scorer for Tigers while opener Deep Dasgupta struck a quick fire 34.
South African Lance Klusener failed to repeat his blistering 91 run semi-final performance against the Badshahs as he trapped in front of the wicket by Shabeer Ahmed on 14.
Thiru Kumaran (and Devendran picked up three wickets each to wrecked the Tigers innings, which collapsed from 113 for 5 in the 13th over to 154 all out.
Superstars pocketed Rs 5 million for securing the third position while Sathish was declared man-of-the-match for his blistering innings.