Akshar, Anureet make it an A-grade win for KXIP
Chasing 136 to win, KXIP made no fuss and chased it down with 11 balls to spare against CC.
Wriddhiman Saha kept holding the one end as he guided the side home with his 35-ball 42. (Source; BCCI)
When Akshar Patel stepped up to bowl his third over, Kings XI Punjab were looking at possibly chasing down a target close to 200 when they came out to bat. Even though it was an inconsequential match for KXIP, another fruitful partnership between the Cape Cobras batsmen at the wicket would have snatched the game away from the home team. Having already booked their place in the last four, KXIP needed to keep the momentum going.
And Akshar did not disappoint. The left-arm spinner, who was one of the finds for KXIP in IPL-7, after finishing with 16 wickets, triggered a collapse by taking the crucial wicket of Sybrand Engelbrecht for 5.Engelbrecht had attemped a reverse sweep, but Akshar had spotted the premeditated shot early and fired the ball in faster. This particular wicket was followed by a period of play when the Cape Cobras lost five wickets for the addition of just 13 runs. From 122 for 5, the Cabe Cobras’ innings folded up at 135 and Akshar picked up two more wickets.
KXIP skipper George Bailey elected to bowl first on a wicket that was difficult to bat on. But Cobras openers Hashim Amla and Richard Levi gave the team a flying start. Amla played his most aggressive knock of the tournament. After his partner Richard Levi had made his intensions clear by hitting Parvinder Awana for 13 runs in the second over, Amla took over from him and slogged Awana for a six and a boundary to score 13 runs off his second over.
Perera, who came into the tournament as a replacement for Mitchell Johnson, was hit for five consecutive boundaries by Amla. That over not only yielded 21 runs, the most in the Cobras’ innings as they added 50 in mere 28 deliveries. Amla raced to 40 from 20 in just six deliveries as Cobras scored 58 runs off the powerplay overs.
The introduction of Karanveer Singh, who picked up four wickets in last match, turned out to be a masterstroke from George Bailey. The marauding Amla was caught by Miller at long-off for 40 off 22 deliveries. His dismissal brought down the run rate considerably as the Cobras struggled to find boundaries.
Brief Scores: Cape Cobras: 135 all out in 18.3 overs.(Richard Levi 42, Hashim Amla 40; Anureet Singh 3/12, Akshar Patel 3/15.) lost to Kings XI Punjab: 139 for 3 in 18.1 overs. (W Saha 42 not out, V Sehwag 23; R Peterson 2/19).
Hurricanes in last four
Hobart Hurricanes produced a professional performance as they beat Barbados Tridents in a convincing manner to enter the semifinals of the Champions League T20, here on Sunday. In their final group league encounter against the Caribbean outfit, Hobart bowlers stuck to their task dismissing the opposition for a paltry 113 in 19.4 overs with left-arm slow bowler Xavier Doherty picking up four for 27. In reply, Hobart were in no tearing hurry as they chased down the target with 10 balls to spare.
With 12 points from four games, Hobart Hurricanes confirmed one of the two semifinal spots from Group B. On a day when Sania Mirza entered the finals of the mixed doubles competition at the Asian Games in Incheon, his husband Shoaib Malik anchored his T20 team’s chase to perfection with a responsible unbeaten knock of 39 off 35 balls with three boundaries.
Earlier, the Tim Paine-led side bowled with a lot of heart with the trio of Doug Bollinger (2/27), Ben Hilfenhaus (2/14) and Doherty sharing the spoils.
Brief Scores: Barbados Tridents: 113 in 19.4 overs (J Carter 42, Xavier Doherty 4 for 27, Ben Hilfenhaus 2 for 14) lostto Hobart Hurricanes: 117 for 4 in 18.2 overs (Shoaib Malik 39 n.o., J Wells 23 n.o., Akeal Hosein 2 for 25).
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