Chennai superstars pips Kolkata Tigers

Hyderabad, Mar 17 (UNI) Chennai Superstars beat Kolkata Tigers by four wickets in the Edelweiss ICL 20s here today.

Winning the toss, Kolkata Tigers selected to bat. It was a disastrous start for the Tigers, who started the innings with Lance Klusener and Subhomoy Das. Both were out before the end of the second over and further disaster awaited them with the end of Deep Dasgupta, leaving the Tigers' innings struggling at 14 for three.

Two consecutive fours by McMillan off Shabbir Ahmed in the fifth over saw the Tiger captain trying to resurrect their innings.

At the halfway stage of the innings, the Tigers were back in the match at 69 for three, with Craig McMillan and Jhunjhunwala battling it out in the middle.

McMillan's wonderful innings of 69 off only 41 balls, including five fours and three sixes came to an end with a run out.

By the 15th over the Tigers were comfortably placed at 123 for four. Jhunjhunwala batted right through the innings to make a classy 50. A late onslaught from Rohan Gavaskar taking 18 off the last over from Shabbir took the Tigers innings to 185 for six in 20 overs.

Chasing a stiff target of 186, the Chennai Superstars scored some big hits, taking the score to 40 for no loss in the first four overs. Vignesh and Harvey were taking off from their good form in their previous match.

Vignesh's onslaught was brought to an end in the fifth over, by a lovely slower one from Hayward. Harvey set on fire with some lusty hits, before the young Pritam Das uproot his off stump, for a well made 49 in the tenth over, with the Superstars placed at 98 for two.

Ten runs were needed off the last over and Arnold, who was not out on 66, took the Superstars to a fantastic victory with two balls to spare.

Brief Scores: Kolkata Tigers 185/6 in 20 overs (C McMillan 69, Jhunjhunwala50, R Gavaskar 23, Vignesh2/18) Chennai Superstars 187/6 in 19.4 overs (R Arnold 66, I Harvey 49, N Hayward 2/31) MORE UNI AP JT PM2358