Cairns, Hall steer Chandigarh Lions into final

Panchkula, Dec 15 (UNI) A 26-ball unbeaten 48-run seventh wicket partnership between captain Chris Cairns ( 26) and South African all- rounder Andrew Hall (20) paved the way for Chandigarh Lions' thrilling four-wicket win against Delhi Jets in the semi-final of the Indian Cricket League (ICL) Twenty20 Championship at the Tau Devi Lal Sports Complex here tonight.

Required to score 149 for victory, Chandigarh Lions made 151 for 6 with two balls to spare. J P Yadav bowled the last over as Chandigarh Lions needed just four runs from six balls. At the end of 19th over Chandigarh Lions were 145 for 6. Hall slamed Yadav for a four of the fourth delivery of the 20th over to signal the termination of Delhi Jets' flight.

Cairns and Hall came at a time when the big match temperament was the need of the hour. They kept cool and in the 18th over they collected 14 runs to tight their grip over the match. Cairns lifted the second delivery of the 18th over of Abid Nabi over long off to ease the tension. In the next over bowled by young Ali Murtaza, Chandigarh Lions gained 11 runs, including a six hit by Chris Cairns.

Earlier, Dinesh Mongia (23) and Manish Sharma (19) put on 41 valuable runs for the fifth wicket but their wickets fell in quick succession. Manish departed at 101 for 5 and Mongia at 103 for 6.Then Chris Cairns and Hall held the fort with determination and guided their team to destiny.

Batting first, Delhi Jets scored 148 for for 4. Man of the match Abbasi Ali (57, 40 balls, 2x4s, 4x6s) and his 59-run association with Tanduri Sudhindra (33 not out, 22b, 2x4s, 1x6) was the highlight of their innings. Opener Dale Benkenstein (28, 4x4s) also made a significant contribution.

All-rounder Dinesh Mongia bagged two wickets for 32 runs.

Chandigarh Lions will now face Chennai Superstars in the final tomorrow at 6 p.m.

SCOREBOARD DELHI JETS: Dale Benkenstein c Duffey b Dinesh Mongia 28 Mohnish Mishra c S Singh b Andrew Hall 01 Marvan Atapattu b Dinesh Mongia 17 Abbas Ali c Pal Singh b Amit Uniyal 57 Taduri Sudhindra not out 33 Jai Prakash Yadav not out 02 Extras (b 2,lb 4, nb 1, w 3) 10 Total (for four wickets in 20 overs) 148.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-39, 3-84, 4-143.

Bowling Andrew Hall 4-0-23-1 Daryl Tuffey 4-0-25-0 Amit Uniyal 4-0-33-1 Dinesh Mongia 4-0-32-2 Chris Cairns 4-0-29-0 CHANDIGARH LIONS: Hamish Marshall b T Sudhindra 12 Imran Farhat b D Mahajan 19 Tejinder Pal Singh c&b T Sudhindra 06 Chetan Sharma c A Nabi b T Sudhindra 06 Manish Sharma b Ali Murtaza 19 Dinesh Mongia b A Nabi 23 Chris Cairns not out 26 Andrew Hall not out 20 Extras (b 4, lb 7, nb 3, w 6) 20 Total (for 6 wkts in 19.4 overs) 151.

Fall of wickets: 1-37, 2-48, 3-58, 4-60, 5-101, 6-103.

Bowling Shalabh Srivastava 3-0-29-0 Taduri Sudhindra 4-0-27-3 Abid Nabi 3-0-25-1 Dhruv Mahajan 1-0-6-1 Ali Murtaza 4-0-22-1 Jai Prakash Yadav 3.4-0-25-0 Dale Benkenstein 1-0-6-0.

UNI