Ross Taylor hit an unbeaten half-century to lead from the front as India Capitals posted a challenging 183/2 on the board against the Manipal Tigers in the last league match of the Legends League Cricket (LLC) at the Barkatullah Khan Stadium here on Saturday.
Taylor played a stellar knock and hammered the Tigers’ bowlers all around the park. Such was his onslaught that the Capitals scored 67 off the last five overs. He remained unbeaten on 51 off 31 balls and smashed three boundaries and three sixes.
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Apart from Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza and Denesh Ramdin also struck fifties.
As has been the trend in the last few matches, the team winning the toss elected to field. The Capitals suffered an early setback when opener Solomon Mire retired hurt at the end of the first over.
But Mire’s fellow-Zimbabwean and opening partner, Masakadza, was not ready to go on the backfoot. Such was Masakadza’s dominance at the crease that when the Capitals scored an impressive 58 without loss after six over, the 39-year-old alone had scored 51 of those runs.
In between, the Tigers too suffered an injury blow as Sri Lankan quick Dilhara Fernando could not even complete his first over and had to leave the ground. They brought in Parwinder Awana as the Supersub.
The Masakadza show continued for some time more before he was caught behind off Corey Anderson’s bowling in the eighth over. By then, he had amassed 60 off just 35 balls with eight fours and two sixes.
The Tigers’ heavyweight spin combination of captain Harbhajan Singh and Muttiah Muralidaran then cast a spell on the Capitals batters, keeping them quiet in the middle overs.
But Ramdin and Taylor broke free from the 15th over and unleashed quite a few big hits to take back control of the match.
Ramdin was run out off the last ball of the innings for 64 (51 balls).
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