Giants defuse Rockets

Nixon, Bali help Atapattu’s men defeat Martyn’s side

HYDERABAD: Paul Nixon and Abhinav Bali hogged the limelight as Delhi Giants defeated Ahmedabad Rockets by 13 runs in the third match of the ICL 20s Challenge at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium here on Sunday.

After put into bat by Rockets’ skipper Damien Martyn, Giants reached a fighting total of 167 for seven and then restricted the opponents to 154 for nine in the allotted 20 overs. Nixon slammed 43 off just 24 while Bali scored 35 from 20 balls.

It was the 23-year-old Delhi batsman Bali who was a revelation. On his arrival, he took his time to get a feel of the wicket and gauge the bowlers. Then he cut loose and smacked every bowler all round the park. He was ultimately dismissed by Gillespie at
35. He hit three huge sixes and a four.

But it was Nixon, though, who changed the complexion of the match by slogging from the very first over. He cleared the ropes four times during his stay in the middle. The former England wicket-keeper was dismissed by Heath Streak for 43, but by that time the Delhi Giants have crossed the 150-run mark and were heading for a respectable total.

Syed Abbas Ali also did well, scoring 25 off 22 before being trapped in front by the experienced Sridharan Sriram.

Later in the day, the Rockets never looked in control with the Giants’ bowlers never letting them stitch a big partnership. Rockets lost wickets at regular intervals and were 13 runs short at the end, chasing 168.

 Scorecard
Ahmedabad Rockets 154/9
Damien Martyn c S Bond b T Sudhindra 4, Ryan Campbell c P Nixon b S Srivastava 0, Parviz Aziz b Prakash Yadav 48, Murray Goodwin c P Nixon b S Bond 12, Sridharan Sriram b Prakash Yadav 26, Reetinder Sodhi not out 51, Heath Streak b Ali Murtaza 1, Anshu Jain c T Sudhindra b S Bond 1, Sumit Kalia b T Sudhindra 4, Jason Gillespie c P Nixon b T Sudhindra 0, Rakesh Patel not out 1
Extras: 6 (B0 LB3 NB1 WD2); Bowling: Shalabh Srivastava 3-0-16-1, Taduri Sudhindra 4-0-33-3, Shane Bond 4-0-38-2, Abhinav Bali 1-0-8-0, Jai Prakash Yadav 4-0-21-2, Ali Murtaza 4-0-35-1; FoW: 1/1 (Campbell), 2/17 (Martyn), 3/57 (Goodwin), 4/73 (Aziz), 5/121 (Sriram) 6/128 (Streak), 7/131 (Jain) 8/141 (Kalia), 9/141 (Gillespie)

Delhi Giants 167/7
Dale Benkenstein c A Jain b H Streak 13, Avishka Gunawardene run out (R Campbell) 22, Abhinav Bali c R Sodhi b J Gillespie 35, Abbas Ali lbw b S Sriram 25, Paul Nixon b H Streak 43, Jai Prakash Yadav c D Martyn b J Gillespie 3, Taduri Sudhindra c S Kalia b H Streak 6, Shane Bond not out 12, Marvan Atapattu not out 0
Extras: 8 (LB3 NB0 WD5); Bowling: Jason Gillespie 4-1-35-2, Rakesh Patel 4-0-31-0, Heath Streak 4-0-23-3, Sumit Kalia 4-0-27-0, Reetinder Sodhi 1-0-18-0, Anshu Jain 1-0-15-0, Sridharan Sriram 2-0-15-1; FoW: 1/38 (Benkenstein), 2/41 (Gunawardene), 3/89 (Ali), 4/133 (Bali), 5/148 (Yadav), 6/155 (Nixon), 7/162 (Sudhindra)