Ahmedabad Rockets soars past Lions'

The debutant Ahmedabad Rockets team had an immaculate launching against Chandigarh Lions in the opening tie of the Indian Cricket League’s Edelweiss 20s Challenge as they registered a 19-run victory over their opponents at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium at Panchkula here on Sunday.

West Indian devastating opener Wavell Hinds (59) combined well with young Sachin Dholpure (54) to give Rockets a rollicking start as they both cracked half centuries to lay down the solid foundation of a formidable total but Lions’ bowlers put brakes on Rockets run riot restricting them to 158 for five in stipulated overs.

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Electing to bat, the Rockets opening duo had an overpowering start as they ripped apart the Lions’ bowling attack all over the park. The right-handed Dholpure (54, three 6s, four 4s) and left-handed Hinds (five 6s, three 4s) gave some hard time to opponent’s bowlers.

Elliot held on a brilliant diving catch to end Dholpure’s innings of Mongia’s delivery in the 15th over. The over turned out to be decisive one as it further damaged Rockets backbone after Mongia returned skipper Damien Martin and Hinds to the pavilion off successive deliveries.

The score was appearing achievable for the Lions’ team but Skipper Damien Martyn marshalled his bowling resources quite well to cut down Lions’ run chase at 139 for six. New Zealander Chris Cairns and Dinesh Mongia got two wickets each for the Lions’ while Zimbabwean Heath Streak picked up two wickets each for Rockets.

Opener Mathew Elliot provided blazing start to Lion’s with a 32-ball 39 but they never looked in the hunt. Lions’ skipper Chris Cairns (21) and Dinesh Mongia (16) added 38 runs off just 4.4 overs for the fourth wicket to stay alive in the match, but the dismissals of Cairns, Mongia and Manish Sharma in consecutive overs adding just four runs proved critical.

Brief Scores: Ahmedabad Rockets 158 for five in 20 overs (Wavell Hinds 59, Sachin Dholpure 54, Dinesh Mongia 2 for 18, Chris Cairns 2 for 22) beat Chandigarh Lions 139 for six in 20 overs (Mathew Elliott 39, Carins 21, T.P. Singh 20, Heath Streak 2 for 25).

Teams

Chandigarh Lions: Matthew Elliott, Lou Vincent, Tejinder Pal Singh, Chris Cairns (C), Dinesh Mongia, Andrew Hall, Manish Sharma, Sarabjeet Singh (Wk), Daryl Tuffey, Rajesh Sharma and Karanveer Singh

Ahmedabad Rockets: Wavell Hinds, Sachin Dholpure, Damien Martyn (C), Murray Goodwin, Sridharan Sriram, Heath Streak, Reetinder Sodhi, Jason Gillespie, Rakesh Patel, Bhima Rao and Pallav Vora (Wk).

Monday’s Fixture: Delhi Giants vs. Mumbai Champs (Live on Zee Sports and Ten Sports at 7 p.m.)