Maher, Binny steer Hyderabad to victory in ICL

By IANS

Hyderabad : Left-handed Australian Jimmy Maher’s whirlwind half-century and Stuart Binny’s unbeaten 44 helped Hyderabad Heroes tame Kolkata Tigers by four wickets with four balls to spare in the Indian Cricket League here.


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Maher, who played 26 One-Day Internationals before joining the rebel Indian league, smashed 65 off 59 balls, including seven boundaries, to guide the Heroes to victory in the Twenty20 encounter at the Lal Bahadur Stadium Wednesday night.

Chasing Kolkata Tigers’ 165 for five wickets in 20 overs, Hyderabad Heroes finished with 168 for six wickets in 19.2 overs.

Kolkata Tigers’ defeat meant that South African Lance Klusener’s brisk 73 went in vain.

With this win, Hyderabad Heroes are placed joint second with Delhi Giants in the eight-team competition. Both teams have four points, but the Chris Harris-led Heroes (-1.19) are technically third as they have an inferior net run rate than Delhi (+0.18).

Lahore Badshahs, led by former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq, are leading the points table with six and also have the best net run rate of +2.41.

In a match in which two New Zealanders led the rival teams, Harris won the toss and asked the Craig McMillan’s Kolkata Tigers to bat first.

Half-century partnerships for the first two wickets gave Kolkata a sound start. Although Subhomoy Das scored just nine, he and Klusener put on 52 for the opening wicket and then the South African all-rounder and Abhishek Jhunjhunwala (24 off 22 balls) raised 53 for the second wicket.

Towards the close, former New Zealand Test player Andre Adams smashed 27 off 20 balls to take the Kolkata Tigers to a competitive 165 for five.

Chasing, Hyderabad had an initial slump as they lost three wickets for 28 before Justin Kemp (28 off 18 balls) and Maher steadied the ship with their 56-run partnership at a rate of 8.40 runs per over.

Two more wickets fell cheaply, but Maher and Binny joined hands in an unbeaten 73-run stand in 6.1 overs and ensured victory with four balls to spare. They scored at an amazing rate of 11.83 runs per over.

Maher was adjudged the man of the match.

Brief scores:

Kolkata Tigers: 165 for 5 wickets in 20 overs (Lance Klusener 73, Andre Adams 27, Chris Harris 2/16, Justin Kemp 2/29) Hyderabad Heroes: 168 for 6 wickets in 19.2 overs (Jimmy Maher 65 not out, Stuart Binny 44 not out, Nantie Hayward 2/27)

Result: Hyderabad Heroes won by four wickets Man of the Match: Jimmy Maher (Hyderabad Heroes)

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