Dehradun: After failing in his first two matches, former West Indies pinch hitter Ricardo Powell proved his mettle for his team India Capitals by defeating Southern Superstars by seven wickets in the seventh fixture of the Legends League Cricket (LLC) being played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun on Saturday. This was India Capitals’ first win in three matches while Southern Superstars is still deprived of a win after losing three consecutive ties so far.
Earlier, India Capitals won the toss and invited the opposition to bat first. Both Lankan openers – Dilshan Munaweera (4) and Upul Tharanga (19) failed to deliver a decent start for the Southern Superstars with 33/2 on the board. Superstars which was scoring at the pace of nearly seven runs per over in the first nine overs, was about to get lifted by Srivatsa Goswami (24) but not enough in front of KP Appanna which led to more miseries for the team at 66/3. . Later, Ashley Nurse accounted for skipper Ross Taylor (24) and Rajesh Bishnoi (8) in his single spell and sent half of the opposition back to the pavilion for just 106. Meanwhile, another Lankan batter Chaturanga De Silva kept scoring across the park but was left alone by his partner Pawan Negi (12) in the 18th over with the team score of 137. Unbeaten Chaturanga de Silva’s knock of 56 runs off 34 balls helped the team to bring a respectable score of 163/6. Unbeaten Bipul Sharma added four runs. Rusty Theron (2/19) and Ashley Nurse (2/32) shared two wickets each.
In retaliation, India Capitals got the first blow in the form of captain Gautam Gambhir (3), who was caught by Ashok Dinda off Suranga Lakmal in the third over. In the very next over, Ganeshwar Rao (0) fell short of his crease against McCarthy’s throw without troubling the scorer with 21/2. Soon, both Caribbean batters – Ricardo Powell and Kirk Edwards exhibited their experiences not only to bring the team out of the troubled waters but a valuable 128 runs partnership to take team closer to the home. Meanwhile, Powell completed his century by smashing a six. Pawan Negi marked the end of Powell’s heroics as the batter smashed ten sixes and six boundaries in 56 deliveries.
With unbeaten Kirk Edwards (45 runs off 35 balls) and Kevin Pietersen (4), India Capitals banged on the target inthe 17th over at the loss of three wickets.
