Jesse Ryder and Mohammad Kaif played like they never went away from competitive cricket as they shared a 126-run partnership to help Harbhajan Singh’s Manipal Tigers post 161/5 against the Gautam Gambhir-led India Capitals in the 10th game of the SKY247.net Legends League Cricket (LLC) on Thursday.
While the left-handed Ryder made 76 off 56 balls with five fours and an equal number of sixes,
Kaif’s contribution of 67 off 48 balls was no less important. Kaif hit nine boundaries and a six. It
was Gambhir who won the toss and elected to bowl first. Ryder opened the Tigers’ innings
along with Tatenda Taibu. The New Zealander looked comfortable during his stay at the crease,
but the same could not be said about the former Zimbabwe captain.
Former Australia speedster Mitchell Johnson ended Taibu’s stay at the crease in the first ball of
the fifth over. That was when Kaif joined Ryder in the middle. The next 13-odd overs saw the
Capitals try their best, but the pair of Ryder and Kaif remained unconquered.
The Tigers did not get too many runs in the Powerplay Overs — 46/1 — and thereafter Ryder
and Kaif concentrated on building their confidence at the crease. They did not get too many big
shots, but perhaps that was their ploy — to preserve their wickets before launching the
offensive in the last few overs.
Till the 15th over, it seemed as if the Capitals bowlers had done a fine job by keeping a tight
leash on the Tigers, who could make only 117/1after 15 overs of play. But Ryder and Kaif
upped the scoring rate a bit in the last five overs, before both of them were dismissed in the
19th over bowled by Englishman Liam Plunkett. However, the Tigers failed to make use of the
final over of their innings, scoring just 4 runs and losing two wickets to medium pacer Rajat
Bhatia.
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