It has been a smooth ride so far for defending champions Hyderabad Heroes in the ICL 20s Challenge.
Atapattu’s boys have little motivation before today’s clash against Hyderabad Heroes
PANCHKULA: It has been a smooth ride so far for defending champions Hyderabad
Heroes in the ICL 20s Challenge.
They have chased down totals with ease, fought hard to defend, and have come out strong in adversity. The three-run victory over Ahmedabad Rockets at Gurgaon was a cracker of a contest and brought out their inherent strength.
The kind of roll they are on, an 18-run loss to Chennai Superstars in Ahmedabad earlier in the League seems an odd blip because they have invariably found someone to come and out and do the job.
The win over Ahmedabad was exceptional because the Heroes recovered from 30 for four batting first, to post a healthy 166. The efforts of Nicky Boje (47), Stuart Binny (48) and Chris Harris (37 not out) down the order give them the aura of a champion team.
Hyderabad have four wins from five matches, the same as top-placed Chennai, and are just that one step away from ensuring a semifinal berth. “Our team has been doing well. We have got performances that have mattered and that is what takes a team far in such a competitive tournament,” said Harris.
On the other hand, the Giants have been anything but that, winning just two of their six matches. That they succumbed to a struggling Mumbai Champs who managed their first win on Thursday, would have pulled down the Giants’ morale and they have little to play for in this edition of the tournament.
TEAMS (from) — Hyderabad Heroes: Chris Harris (captain), Abdul Razzaq, Jimmy Maher, Justin Kemp, Nicky Boje, Alfred Absolom, Ambati Rayudu, Anirudh Singh, Ibrahim Khaleel, Indra Shekar Reddy, P Kaushik Reddy, PS Niranjan, Shashank Nag, Stuart Binny, Syed Shahabuddin, Vinay Kumar, Zakaria Zufri.
Delhi Giants: Marvan Atapattu (captain), Avishka Gunawardene, Dale Benkenstein, Shane Bond, Paul Nixon, Abbas Ali, UP Yadav, T Sudhidra, Ali Murtaza, Mohnish Mishra, Abhinav Bali, Dhruv Mahajan, D. Yagnik, Abid Nabi, Abhishek Sharma, Shalabh Srivastav, Raghav Sachdev.
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