Lions taste second defeat in two days

Abhishek Jhunjhunwala's timely knock of 62, coupled with Akhlakh Ahmed's superb four-wicket haul, helped Kolkata Tigers beat Chandigarh Lions by 22 runs in the ICL's Eelweiss 20s Challenge at Tau Devi Lal stadium in Gurgaon on Wednesday night.

Set a target of 166, Lions lost half their side, with just 59 runs on the board, by the 11th over and were dismissed for 143 in 18.2 overs.

A 50-run partnership for the seventh wicket between T P Singh (34 off 23 balls) and Manish Sharma (23 off 16 balls) did provide them hope but the latter was dismissed by Andre Adams and the tail failed to wag against some disciplined bowling by Tigers.

T P Singh did give some jitters to the Tigers, making three clean hits over the ropes in his little cameo, but Adams dismissed him too.

Ahmed claimed four important wickets in his four overs, giving away 27 runs, while Adams too bowled a tight line and claimed three wickets in his quota of overs.

A 72-run stand between Lance Klusner (38 runs) and Jhunjhunwala for the second wicket set the stage for the Tigers to go for the onslaught in the last six overs.

Jhunjhunwala scored a well-paced 62 off 57 balls, hitting five fours and a six, while Klusner was his usual in his individual score of 34 runs that included two massive hits over the ropes and a four.

For Lions, who registered their second defeat in two days, Andrew Hall was pick of the bowlers, claiming three wickets in four overs, but the Protea was a little expensive as he gave away 37 runs.

Scorecard

Kolkata Tigers:
Subhomoy Das lbw b Hall 12
Lance Klusener run out 38
Abhishek Jhunjhunwala run out 62
S Singh c Singh b Tuffey 18
Andre Adams b Ablish 1
Criag McMillan c Elliott b Hall 4
Rohan Gavaskar c Sharma b Hall 13
Deep Dasgupta not out 6
Upul Chandana not out 0.
Extras: (lb 6, w 3, nb 2) 11
Total: (in 20 overs) 165 for 7.

Fall of wickets: 1-14, 2-92, 3-126, 4-130, 5-135, 6-159, 7-160.

Bowling: Andrew Hall 4-0-37-3, Darell Tuffey 4-0-14-1 Love Ablish 4-0-33-1, Dinesh Mongia 4-0-32-0 Mathew Elliott 1-0-8-0, TP Singh 1-0-13-0 Chetan Sharma 2-0-22-0.

Chandigarh Lions: (target 166 runs)
Loui Vincent b Ahmed 14
Mathew Elliott b Adams 6
Sarabjit Singh c Singh b Hayward 9
Andrew Hall b Ahmed 8
Chetan Sharma st Dasgupta b Jhunjhunwala 6
Chris Cairns c Das b Ahmed 14
T P Singh c Jhunjhunwala b Adams 34
Manish Sharma c Dasgupta b Adams 23
Dinesh Mongia b Hayward 12
Darell Tuffey b Ahmed 8
Love Ablish not out 0.
Extras: (b 4, lb 2, w 3) 9.
Total: (in 18.2 overs) 143 all out

Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-28, 3-32, 4-43, 5-59, 6-69, 7-119, 8-120, 9-137.

Bowling: Andre Adams 4-0-22-3, M Hayward 3.2-1-17-2 Akhlakh Ahmed 4-0-27-4, Upul Chandana 4-0-44-0 Abhishek Jhunjhunwala 2-0-19-1, Lance Klusener 1-0-8-0.