The second match of the Legends League Cricket (LLC) 2022 turned out to be a nail-biter between Manipal Tigers and Bhilwara Kings. Tigers fought till the end but it was Tino Best who bested them with big shots in the final over. In a game that went down to the wire, Kings won by three wickets.
In the run chase of 154, Kings lost both their openers -- Naman Ojha (6) and William Porterfield (4) -- early. Nick Compton and Tanmay Srivastava scored run-a-ball 18 and 28 respectively. However, the required run rate kept climbing up.
Yusuf Pathan fuelled some life into the run chase. He started off with a six off Harbhajan Singh. While Yusuf was hitting big, Rajesh Bishnoi lost his wicket to Muttiah Muralitharan. Brother Irfan joined Yusuf in the middle. But after a few hits, he lost his wicket. In the penulimate over, Yusuf's wicket brought Tigers back into the contest. He scored 44 runs from 28 deliveries including four fours and two sixes. Ryan Sidebottom got the prized wicket in his last over.
Kings needed 12 runs off the final over with Matt Prior and Tino Best in the middle. The Caribbean batter hit Mpofu for one six and two fours to finish off the run chase.
After winning the toss, Irfan opted to bowl first. The move worked straightaway as Tigers suffered a batting collapse. Fidel Edwards was menacing with the new ball as he got rid of Corey Anderson (0), Swapnil Asnodhar (2) and Ricardo Powell. From the other end, Irfan got rid of opener Ravikant Shukla (1) in the first over. Tigers were reduced to 15/4 in the fourth over and that's when skipper Kaif came to the rescue.
Kaif took control of the innings and tried to stitch a partnership with Tatenda Taibu. The Zimbabwe wicketkeeper-batter stayed in middle for a while but lost his wicket to Monty Panesar. Kaif approached his innings with caution. It was in the 16th over that he got to his half-century from 45 deliveries. In the middle overs, Pardeep Sahu scored freely and contributed with a 19-ball 30 cameo. Sahu lost his wicket to S Sreesanth in the 16th over.
In the slog overs, Kaif got a few boundaries and helped Tigers post 153/7. He remained unbeaten for 73 off 59 deliveries including 10 fours. It is also his best score in the T20 format. On the other end, Shivakant Shukla scored 16 runs off 12 deliveries. Best turned out to be the most expensive bowler for Kings as he leaked 39 runs from his quota of four overs.
