Date:10/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/10/stories/2008111057271900.htm

Sport - Cricket

Easy for Heroes

V.V. Subrahmanyam

AHMEDABAD: In an inconsequential match, Hyderabad Heroes drubbed Royal Bengal Tigers by nine wickets in the Indian Cricket League (ICL) at the Sardar Patel Stadium (Navrangpura) here on Saturday.

Heroes completed the league engagements with six wins, while Tigers had five. Both teams had already booked their places in the semifinals.

Chasing 112, Heroes started badly losing Abdul Razzaq (7) early. Wicketkeeper-batsman Ibrahim Khaleel (54 n.o., 46b, 6x4, 1x6) and Ambati Rayudu (46 n.o., 33b, 7x4, 1x6) took the team past Tigers’s total in 15.1 overs.

Rayudu, in particular, was severe on fast bowler Sujay Tarafdar. He glanced, square-cut and walked down the track to cover-drive the fast bowler in the early part of his innings. The duo stitched a 101-run unbroken stand for the second wicket to guide the team to an emphatic victory.

Rayudu gave the finishing touch, pulling leggie Upul Chandana for a huge six. Heroes’s domination was evident right from the start when fast bowler Syed Shahabuddin removed the top three batsmen — Deep Dasgupta (4), Hamish Marshall (9) and Rohan Gavaskar (6) — very early.

Compounding the misery for Tigers was the impressive show in the middle-overs by left-arm spinners Inder Shekar Reddy and Nicky Boje.

The scores: Royal Bengal Tigers 111 in 19.4 overs (Craig McMillan 31, K.S. Shahabuddin three for 22, I.S. Reddy three for 22) lost to Hyderabad Heroes 112 for one in 15.1 overs (Ibrahim Khaleel 54 n.o., Ambati Rayudu 46 n.o.).