Highlights of the ICL’s second season
Siddhartha Talya15-Nov-2008The curtain is coming down on the second season of the ICL 20-20 Indian Championship. Cricinfo looks at some of the highlights:
Dream spell: Ali Murtaza’s 4 for 7 against Lahore Badshahs was the most economical in the ICL © ICL
The bowl out
Delhi Giants and Chandigarh Lions were involved in perhaps the best game of the tournament, with both sides scoring heavily and the winner being decided by a bowl-out. Chandigarh batted first and got off to an ideal start, with the openers putting on 98 in a little over ten overs. Graeme Hick, one of ICL’s newer recruits, made 36 as Chandigarh scored 200. Delhi, though, replied strongly, with the openers adding 126, but then lost quick wickets. They needed nine off the final over. Andrew Hall bowled the first five balls accurately but, with five needed to win off the last ball, Paul Nixon glanced down to the fine-leg boundary to level the scores. The bowl-out yielded just two hits, both from Delhi, and Bipul Sharma, Chetan Sharma, Daryl Tuffey and Hall failed to hit the stumps for Chandigarh. Ali Murtaza and Dhruv Mahajan struck their target to hand Delhi a nerve-wracking win.The knock
Reetinder Sodhi’s unbeaten 41 brought Ahmedabad Rockets within four runs of victory against Hyderabad Heroes in Gurgaon. Chasing 166, Ahmedabad were 113 for 1 in the 17th over. However, their acceleration came late and they went into their final over needing 27 more to win. Just when it seemed that Hyderabad had the match wrapped up, Sodhi gave them a serious scare, dispatching Shahabuddin’s first two balls for a six and a four. However the next three yielded only seven runs but Sodhi lofted the last ball, off which ten were needed, for a massive six over the bowler’s head. He finished with 41 off 15, a valiant knock, but his team was left ruing their decision to accelerate so late.The fiasco
Hyderabad Heroes lost by one run against Delhi Giants, losing their way thanks to some shoddy running after being in control for most of the run-chase. Four of their six dismissals were run-outs and they slipped from 75 for 1 to 113 for six. The seventh wicket pair of Anirudh Singh and Chris Harris revived the innings and reached a situation where 16 runs were needed off the last over, and 12 off the final two balls. Dale Benkenstein had bowled an economical final over until then but Anirudh almost spoilt Delhi’s party. The penultimate ball of the match was struck powerfully over long on for six. Benkenstein, however, made amends by bowling a yorker which produced a thick outside edge to the third-man boundary for four.The catch
It was a catch that swung the match Hyderabad Heroes’ way. Ahmedabad Rockets were 113 for 1 and Damien Martyn, batting on 16, was just getting into his rhythm. They needed 54 off the last four overs. Chris Harris bowled a short ball on middle and leg and Martyn pulled it powerfully between long on and deep midwicket. Ambati Rayudu, who was fielding at deep midwicket, ran to his left and dived full length to pluck the catch inches away of the boundary. Ahmedabad ended up losing the match by three runs, but if Martyn, who added 59 for the second wicket with Murray Goodwin, had stayed till the end, the result might have been different. Rayudu was given the Man-of-the-Match award for that catch, despite a poor performance with bat.The crowd
Ahmedabad once again provided the ICL with a much-needed fan-base, with over 40,000 people thronging to the match between Lahore Badshahs and Dhaka Warriors. Lahore won that match by five wickets and all but ensured their place in the ICL semi-finals. Most of the matches in Ahmedabad were nearly housefull.The debut
Mohammad Yousuf’s 12 against Dhaka Warriors may not appear among the most impressive of debuts but those who witnessed his brief stay at the crease will testify that his innings was one of the main highlights of the season. Yousuf was ICL’s latest recruit and he got off to a near perfect start, hitting boundaries off his first three balls. The first was a delightful square-cut followed by a trademark on-drive wide of mid-on. The third was the best of the lot, a beautifully executed extra-cover drive, but then an attempted drive on the up through cover produced a thin outside edge which was snapped up by Dhiman Ghosh.The controversy
Chris Cairns and Dinesh Mongia were suspended for the entire season. Cairns was reportedly carrying an ankle injury into the tournament, which he did not disclose to the ICL officials. As that constituted a violation of the player’s contract, Cairns was sent back. Mongia apparently knew about Cairns’ injury in advance but did not share the information with the ICL authorities. However, there were rumours that allegations of match-fixing may have been the reason for such a harsh penalty, but Mongia categorically denied that match-fixing had anything to do with his suspension, and so did Cairns’ lawyer.The spat
Deep Dasgupta and G Vignesh were involved in an on-field altercation during the match between Chennai Superstars and Royal Bengal Tigers in Panchkula. Dasgupta dispatched a full-length ball from outside off stump for a six and then got into a scuffle with Vignesh. Both players were fined 50% of their monthly fees for the incident. Royal Bengal Tigers stakeholder Mithun Chakraborty said Dasgupta had been provoked on the field, and was satisfied that both the “offender” and the “conspirator” were found to be equally guilty and duly penalised.The spell
Ali Murtaza took 4 for 7 in four overs to put the brakes on Lahore Badshahs as Delhi succeeded in restricting them to 147, which they successfully overhauled with nine balls to spare. Murtaza’s spell was the most economical in the ICL and each of his victims in that match was a frontline batsman. Murtaza first dismissed Imran Farhat who tried to loft him over the long-on boundary, but holed out to Justin Kemp. The second wicket, that of Humayun Farhat, was a result of a brilliant stumping by wicketkeeper Paul Nixon. Shahid Yousuf was trapped lbw in the same over but the biggest scalp was that of Inzamam-ul-Haq who was also lbw to a quicker ball that would have hit off stump.The find
Dhaka Warriors proved to be a worthy addition to the teams participating in the ICL. After all the turmoil their players went through after joining the league, they put up an admirable show and at one point, were among the front-runners for a semi-final berth. They started off poorly, losing to Chennai Superstars by six wickets, but won hearts in their next match against tournament champions Hyderabad Heroes. Alok Kapali scored the competition’s first century and Dhaka were favourites to win until some sloppy fielding and a terrific innings from Chris Harris helped Hyderabad snatch a win. Dhaka came back strongly, winning four out their next five games, but lost a must-win game against Lahore.
