Published: Sep 18, 2014, 09:24 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 18, 2014, 11:14 PM (IST)
By Rajarshi Majumdar
Sep 18, 2014
Hobart Hurricanes posted 144 runs on the board against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in the second game of the Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) 2014. The KXIP bowlers made it difficult for the Hurricanes right from the start from the innings. KXIP bowlers picked up a wicket and gave away just 30 runs in the powerplay overs. Akshar Patel was introduced during the field restriction overs. He dismissed the Hurricanes skipper Tim Paine in his very first over.
The frustration was building on the batsmen as the KXIP bowlers gave no room whatsoever to any of the batsmen. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. Ben Dunk showed some resistance initially but he tried to up the tempo and was dismissed by Thisara Perera in the eighth over. Dunk tried to hit one for a six but ended up mistiming the ball and it went high up in the air and Glenn Maxwell took a good catch to dismiss him. Aiden Blizzard too tried to take on the bowlers and he was hitting the ball well until he got out to Perera. Shoaib Malik too joined the wagon soon after Blizzard threw his wicket away.
Jonathan Wells and Travis Birt played sensibly towards the end and steadied the Hobart innings. They build a nice partnership and hit the bad balls out of the park. They added 52 runs in tandem until wells got himself run out pretty cheaply. Birt continued to score from the other end. At a stage, it looked like, the Hurricanes might not cross 140 but the partnership between Birt and Wells helped them to reach a decent total in this wicket which is doing a lot.
On the other hand, Patel and Perera were the pick of the bowlers as they picked up 3 wickets. Patel was excellent right from the start and he gave away just 20 runs in his allotted overs with a commendable economy of just 5 runs per over (rpo). The other bowlers too bowled well to restrict the Hurricanes to a modest total of 144 runs.
George Bailey had won the toss and had asked the Hurricanes to bat first and he admitted that he doesn’t know how the wicket is going to change but it was clear that it will be comparatively easy batting second here at Mohali. KXIP need 145 runs to win in 20 overs.
Brief scores:
Hobart Hurricanes 144/6 in 20 overs (Travis Birt 28, Jonathan Wells 28; Akshar Patel 1 for 20, Thisara Perera 2 for 17) vs Kings XI Punjab
Catch the complete coverage of Champions League T20 (CLT20) 2014 here
(Rajarshi Majumdar is a reporter at CricketCountry. He played cricket for all age levels under the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) for over 12 years. Apart from cricket he is an avid follower of football, supports Manchester United and a foodie at heart.)
