Hyderabad Heroes win ICL Twenty20 by Bowl Out

Hyderabad Heroes win 2nd Final of the ICL Edelweiss Twenty20 Challenge by defeating Lahore Badshahs in Bowl – Out

Hyderabad Heroes win Edelweiss 20s Challenge pocketing Rs.2 crore
Lahore Badshahs end up runners-up winning a handsome Rs. 1 crore
Chennai Superstars & Kolkata Tigers end up in 3th & 4th position pocketing an impressive Rs. 75 lakh & Rs. 50 lakh respectively

Mumbai, April 06, 2008: The 2nd Finals of the Edelweiss 20s Challenge featured the hosts Hyderabad Heroes take on the Lahore Badshahs at the magnificent ICL facility, Lal Bahadur Stadium, Hyderabad. A close encounter was expected, especially looking into the formidable record that the hosts have enjoyed playing on their home turf & their big upset win over the formidable Badshahs in the 1st final. In the end, Hyderabad Heroes won the Edelweiss 20s Challenge, pocketing Rs.2 crore. Lahore Badshahs ended up runners-up winning a handsome Rs. 1 crore while Chennai Superstars & Kolkata Tigers ended up in 3th & 4th position pocketing an impressive Rs. 75 lakh & Rs. 50 lakh respectively. Naved-ul-Hasan and Ambati Rayudu were jointly declared the Man of the Match pocketing Rs. 2lakhs, a Diamond Ball sponsored by Gitanjali Group & the Trophy, while Abdul Razzaq was declared Man of the Series for the Edelweiss 20s Challenge winning Rs.40Lakhs and the Trophy. Bharatstudent.com, the team sponsor for the Hyderabad Heroes also declared Rs. 4Lakh each to the Best Batsman and Best Bowler of the Edelweiss 20s Challenge respectively.

Jeff Dujon in his pitch report predicted a track with good bounce & carry making it conducive for stroke play. Inzamam won the toss and elected to bat. The Badshahs opened their account in a do or die battle with Imran Nazir & Taufeeq Umar. It was a positive start from the Badshahs with both the openers playing their strokes taking the score to 25 for no loss at the end of the 3rd over. Harris brought on the young Absolem in the 5th over & he responded immediately, drawing first blood with the wicket of Umar. At the end of the 5th over, the Badshahs were well placed at 38/1. Harris introduced spin from both ends at the start of the 7th over & both Boje and Reddy were relatively successful in pulling back the Badshahs scoring machine. The pressure finally resulted in Reddy getting rid of the dangerous Nazir for a well made 30. At the half way mark of their innings the match was fascinatingly poised at the Badshahs score of 65/2.

Reddy was bowling beautifully in front of his packed home ground stadium & got the big break, trapping the great Inzi, in front of the wicket in the 12th over leaving the Badshahs in a bit of a bother at 75/3. Hyderabad’s superhero of the Edelweiss 20s Challenge, Stuart Binny got into the act in his first over sending back the dangerous Farhat in the 14th over. At the end of the 15th over, the Badshahs were placed at 96/4. Binny was thriving in the big match situation with 3 wickets, bringing about a mini collapse in the Badshahs middle order, leaving them reeling at 98/6.

With two overs to go the Badshahs were struggling at 111/6 with Azhar Mahmood holding the key for any chance of a final onslaught. However, there was no momentum whatsoever and the Badshahs folded their innings 130/9 in their allotted 20 overs.

In reply, the Heroes got off to a cautious start placed at 17 for no loss at the end of 3 overs. A fascinating contest was in store with both Sami & Mahmood bowling a hostile spell of fast bowling with Razzaq & Maher countering it with some solid batting. Inzamam brought on his spin spearhead the wily Mushtaq, in the 7thover & he responded immediately with the wicket of Razzaq bringing the Badshahs right back into the match.

At the 7th over mark, the Heroes were placed at 40/1. Mushtaq struck again in the 9th over castling the Heroes batting mainstay Maher for 19. With 10 overs to go the capacity crowd was getting its money’s worth with the match delicately poised at the Heroes’ score of 59/2, needing another 72 runs with 8 wickets in hand. Inzamam brought on Rana Naved in the 14th over, who broke the dangerous partnership between Boje & Rayudu with a peach of a delivery brining the Badshahs right back into the match.

With 4 overs to go, the Heroes were away from the championship by only 35 runs with Rayudu holding the mantle in front of his humongous home crowd. Rana Naved picked up three wickets in the 18th over setting the match to go all the way down to the wire. A final over drama saw the scores tied taking the match into a bowl out. In the bowl out it was the Hyderabad Heroes who held their nerves winning the Edelweiss 20s Challenge.

Brief Scores: Lahore Badshahs 130/9 in 20overs (Nazir 30, Farhat 30, Binny 3/9, IS. Reddy 4/19) Hyderabad Heroes 130 all out in19.4 overs (Rayudu 46, Mushtaq 2/19, Rana Naved 5/22)