Harbhajan Singh's Manipal Tigers rode on Ricardo Powell's roaring 96 to peg back India Capitals by three wickets in a last-over thriller of a Legends League Cricket match on Saturday (October 1).
Powell's whirlwind 52-ball 96 which was studded with seven sixes and eight boundaries to help Tigers chase down a colossal target of 184 with three wickets to spare.
In a nail-biting last over, Tigers needed four runs but Brett Lee (1 not out) and RS Kaluwitharana (5 not out) fought hard despite tumbling on the other end and cruised their side to home.
Tigers' skipper Harbhajan Singh won the toss and elected to bowl first at Barkatullah Khan Stadium in Jodhpur. Solomon Mire and Masakadza started the innings for the Capitals who were missing out on their star player and captain Gautam Gambhir for this fixture. Mire had to leave the pitch due to injury at the end of the very first over.
Masakadza and Ramdin put up a big and quick 68-run partnership for the first wicket in just eight overs. Masakadza smashed 60 runs off just 35 balls before getting caught out on a Corey Anderson's delivery.
Then stand-in skipper Taylor and Ramdin dominated the rest of the innings with another big partnership of 114 runs. Ramdin got run out at a score of 64 runs on the innings' last delivery and Ross remained unbeaten on 51 runs off 31 balls to put 183/2 on the scoreboard.
While chasing a big 184-run target, the veteran Zimbabwe batter Tatenda Taibu was bowled out for a golden duck by Pawan Suyal in the first over. But the Capitals failed to capitalize on that early good start. Caribbean opener Ricardo Powell and Mohammad Kaif put up a big 79-run partnership for the second wicket to put Tigers in the control of the game.
Kaif scored 26 runs before getting caught out on John Mooney's delivery in the 11th over. But next batter Corey Anderson joined Powell and smashed a quickfire 39 runs off 21 balls to form a big 83-run partnership for the third wicket. It looked like the Tigers will win the match easily but they lost both Anderson and Powell in the 17th and 18th overs. Powell smashed the highest 96 runs off 52 balls and was dismissed by Indian pacer Rajat Bhatia.
Capitals needed only four runs off last over but veteran spinner Pravin Tambe dismissed Ravikant Shukla on the first delivery and Shivkant Shukla on the fourth delivery to keep the Capitals alive in the last over thriller.
But the former Sri Lankan wicketkeeper batter Romesh Kaluwitharana smashed four on the last ball of the innings to give the Tigers a memorable three-wicket win.
