Delhi Giants defeats Ahmedabad in ICL 20s championship

Hyderabad, Oct 12 (UNI) Delhi Giants today defeated Ahmedabad Rockets in the third match of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) 20s championship match at Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium here today.

In a fortune-fluctuating match, Delhi Giants scampered home by 13 runs. Earlier in the day, Ahmedabad Rockets skipper Damien Martin won the toss and elected to field, bolstered by the induction of new recruit Ryan Campbell.

The Giants got off their season-2 campaign with their left- right opening combination of Gunawardene and Dale Benkenstein.

Superb bowling by paceman Gillespie and ably supported by Rakesh Patel, the Giants were on the backfoot in the first three overs. At the half way mark, they were in dire-straits, though south-paw, Abbas Ali withstood the torrid-pounding for sometime, before Sriram trapping him in front.

However, Paul Nixon in the company of Bali, scored 43, studded with four sixers and a boundary and Bond's late assault fetched the team 12 more runs, which took the Delhi team to 167 for seven in 20 overs. For Rockets, Heath Streak was the most economical bowler with three for 23 in four overs.

The Rockets got off to a shaky start with Campbell sent back by Shalabh Srivastava, before the scoreboard opened. With ten overs to go, the team needed another 106 runs off 60 balls at an asking rate of 10.60. Despite a valiant knock of 51 from Sodhi, with two sixes in the last two balls, the team fell short by 13 runs.

Nixon was declared Man of the Match.

Brief Scores: Delhi Giants: 167/7 in 20 overs (Nixon 43, Bali 35, Streak 3/23).

Ahmedabad Rockets: 154/9 in 20 overs (Aziz 48, Sodhi 51 not out, Sudhindra 3/33).

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