India conquer the world

HYDERABAD: India came back from the woods to lift the ICL 20s World Series trophy in yet another end-game thriller at the Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

Having faltered to 148 for 8 after a rollicking start in the tri-series final, the resurgent Indian side restricted the Rest of the World to 138, thereby winning the match by 10 runs.

It didn’t look like Stephen Rixon’s side would make the podium as the match hung tantalizingly till the last over. With 22 runs needed from six deliveries, it could be anybody’s game, but India finally had the last laugh with Thiru Kumaran bowling the final over with punitive accuracy.

Damien Martyn, who looked to tumble a few records in the last game, set the stadium on fire with his brilliant stroke play. He shredded the Indian bowlers notching up 60 runs from 48 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and one six. Lou Vincent was equally threatening as he quickly raced to 28 runs from 27 deliveries, but Syed Mohammed picked the World XI keeper’s wicket at the right time to choke the foe’s run rate.

After Vincent’s departure in the 10th over, India smelled a possible victory and upped the pressure with some brilliant fielding and extraordinary bowling that has been the USP of the home side.

Superb throws from the deep and clever wicket-to-wicket bowling did the trick as the World XI batsmen groped for room to free their arms and the frustration and mounting run-rate finally did them in.

Earlier, India XI’s Ganapathi Vignesh played a brave innings of 57 runs, but failed to inspire his team for a formidable total as a middle-order collapse fizzled out the in-form Indians for a paltry 148.

After a watchful start, the opening duo of Vignesh and Ibrahim Khaleel opened the floodgates playing scorching shots across the LB stadium. Vignesh led the attack when he sent a screamer through the off side in the third over off Tuffey after Martyn dropped him in the previous delivery.

Tuffey became the whipping boy for the Indian batsmen as both Khaleel and Vignesh meted out some ugly treatment to the New Zealander with some extravagant shots through the extra cover region. Andrew Hall too got some stick when the batsmen started throwing their bats at every possible delivery.

World XI skipper Chris Cairns was forced to introduce the spinners, but Upul Chandana failed to stand up against the belligerence of the two Indian batsmen as he too went for runs. Khaleel belted the Sri Lankan leggie over long off in his first over and launched the next ball through the cover region for two consecutive boundaries.

Scorecard
ICL India: I Khaleel c Chandana b Elliott 34, G Vignesh lbw b Chandana 57, TP Singh st Vincent b Chandana 9, S Abbas Ali c & b Arnold 0, STR Binny b Tuffey 13, R Sathish c van der Wath b Hall 5, AA Jhunjhunwala run out (Vincent) 9, J Syed Mohammed c Martyn b Hall 0, T Kumaran not out 10
Extras (B2 LB2 W7) 11     
Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 148
Fall of wickets: 1-76, 2-104, 3-105, 4-109, 5-126, 6-126, 7-127, 8-148
Bowling: JJ van der Wath 4-1-20-0, DR Tuffey 4-0-32-1, AJ Hall 4-0-38-2,  UDU Chandana 4-0-31-2, MTG Elliott 2-0-17-1, RP Arnold 2-0-6-1
ICL World: MTG Elliott c Khaleel b Vignesh 4, DR Martyn run out (Jhunjhunwala) 60, L Vincent st Khaleel b Syed Mohammed 28, CL Cairns run out (Khaleel) 9, RP Arnold not out 8, MS Atapattu c Syed Mohammed b Vignesh 9, JJ van der Wath not out 19
Extras (W1) 1 
Total (5 wickets; 20 overs) 138
Fall of wickets: 1-22, 2-75, 3-102, 4-102, 5-119
Bowling: AN Ahmed 2-0-14-0, G Vignesh 3-0-28-2, A Murtaza 4-0-31-0, T Kumaran 3-0-28-0, J Syed Mohammed 4-0-10-1, STR Binny 4-0-27-0