Sport - Cricket

Maher, Binny shine for Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: Jimmy Maher’s unbeaten 65 (59 balls, 7x4), his maiden half-century in Twenty20, and Stuart Binny’s blitzkrieg (44 not out, 19b, 5x4, 2x6) fashioned Hyderabad Heroes’s four-wicket win over Kolkata Tigers in the Edelweiss 20s Challenge at the Lal Bahadur Stadium on Wednesday.

Chasing a target of 166 in 20 overs, Hyderabad was struggling at 90 for five in 12 overs with the big-hitting Justin Kemp (28, 18b, 5 x 4) providing the lone sparkle at the top.

And when captain Chris Harris (1) pulled slow bowler Upul Chandana straight to deep square-leg in the 14th over (95 for six), the host was staring at defeat.

But Binny, with a positive frame of mind, surprised the rival camp with some stunning blows in the company of Man-of-the-Match Maher.

The two put on 73 runs for the seventh wicket.

And quite fittingly, it was Binny’s six off Andre Adams over long-on which sealed the fate of Tigers and triggered celebrations.

It was the home team’s second win in three matches.

Earlier, the hard-hitting Lance Klusener finally got into the act (73, 42b, 7x4, 5x6) to help Tigers post a competitive score. Opener Klusener, who revelled with his famous stroke-play on either side of the wicket, saw to that the first 50 came in 4.3 overs. The ease with which he treated the Heroes’ bowling attack was seen to be believed.

The scores: Kolkata Tigers 165 for five in 20 overs (Abhishek Jhunjhunwala 24, Lance Klusener 73, Andre Adams 27, Justin Kemp two for 29, Chris Harris two for 16) lost to Hyderabad Heroes 168 for six in 19.2 overs (Justin Kemp 28, Jimmy Maher 65 n.o., Stuart Binny 44 n.o., Sujay Tarafdar two for 37, Nantie Hayward two for 27).

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