A three wicket haul by Darreyl Tuffey (3 for 15) guided Chandigarth Lions to a comfortable 34-run win over Delhi Giants in the sixth match of the Indian Crick et League being played at Tau Devi Lal Stadium,Panchkula on Saturday.After stand in skipper Andrew Hall won the toss, Chandigarh Lions posted a challenging total of 153 for 6 in the allotted 20 overs. For Chandigarh Lions, Lou Vincent and Mathew Elliot opened the batting and both of them took no time to settle. Vincent opened his account through a glorious boundary through covers off the bowling of Shane
Bond in the first over while Elliot struck two fours off the bowling of Sudhindra taking Lions score to 23 for no loss in four overs. Vincent stepped up the tempo hitting Dale Benkenstein for a six and four off consecutive deliveries in the sixth over before Benkenstein removed the danger looking Vincent (20) with a straight tossed up
delivery. Lions score at that time was 44 for 1 and Elliot was joined by TP Singh who opened his account edging a Yadav delivery to third man for boundary. Elliot, meanwhile continued his fine form with the bat as he hit Benkenstein for a towering six over mid wicket in the ninth over. Singh too followed it with a six over Long On off the bowling of Shane Bond in the eleventh over. It was Ali Murtaza in the next over who removed a well settled Mathew Elliot (35) with Gunawardene taking a simple catch at backward point. Ginats struck again in the next over when Dinesh Mongia (4) run out while attempting a single. Dale Benkenstein continued his good form picking his second wicket in the Manish Sharma who was found plumb before the wicket in the 15th over at an individual score of 3. Lions were 104 for 4 at that time. Chtean Sharma then came to the crease and he was soon into his stride, first hitting Ali Murtaza for huge six in the 16th over and then hitting Benkenstein for a four and six off consecutive deliveries in the 17th over before being run out while taking a single at an individual score of 29 off nine balls. Singh was then joined in by Skipper Andrew Hall who opened his account with a four off the bowling of Murtaza in the 18th over. Singh departed after making a patient 38 off 36 balls before falling to Bond in the penultimate over
to make it 145 for 6 for Lions. Sarabjit Singh hit a towering six off Yadav in the last over to help Lions’ total get past 150.
Chasing a target of 154 runs in 20 overs, Giants never looked into the game. Tuffey struck in his first over itself picking up Giants opener Awishka Gunawardne (5) who gave a simple catch to Mathew Elliot at first slip with Giants’score being 12 for 1. Tuffey gain struck in his next over as he snapped up the wicket of MD Mishra who fell lbw to a straight delivery after making 6 off 11 balls. Giants skipper Marvan Atapattu was joined in by S Abass Ali but Ali returned to the pavilion after he was run out in the sixth over at an individual score of 4. Atapattu and Bali were then associated in a 47-run stand for the fourth wicket with Bali in fine form. He first struck Tuffey for two consecutive fours in the sixth over and then hit Karanveer Singh for a huge six in the ninth over. The partnership was broken in the 12th over when Atapattu (29) was found short of his crease after Lou Vincent sent a fine throw from point to make it 76 for 4 for Giants.
Mongia struck in the 14th over when he removed TP Sudhinra(5), who fell while trying to sweep but gave a simple catch to Lou Vincent at Long on. Bali(31) was picked up by Love Abhlish in the next over as he gave a top edge to the bowler, making it 88 for 6. Chandigarh Lions then required 65 runs off 35 balls. But the tail enders could not face the challenge as Delhi Giants were bundled out for 119 in 18.1 overs with Singh picking up two wickets in the last four overs.