The much-awaited Legends League Cricket finally got underway on Saturday with the first match being played between India Capitals and Gujarat Giants. After winning the toss, the Gujarat Giants Captain invited India Capitals led by Jacques Kallis to bat first at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Openers Hamilton Masakadza and Solomon Mire walked out to the middle to give a good start to their team. However, the Giants’ bowling attack had other ideas as they were all over the Capitals right from the word go. The openers could only add 19 runs in 3.1 overs as KP Appanna dismissed Hamilton Masakadza for 7. After making early inroads, Giants further picked up three more wickets and left them reeling at 4/34 in 6.2 overs.
After the early blows, Denesh Ramdin tried to stabilize the innings but he could only manage to score 31 off 26 balls as he was caught and bowled by Thisara Perera. Seeing his team reeling at 74/6 after 12 overs. Ashley Nurse played a scintillating counter-attacking knock as he began launching the ball into the stands one after the other. Nurse’s knock propelled the Capitals’ total to 179/7 after their allotted 20 overs. He remained unbeaten on 103 off 43 balls allowing his team to make a stunning comeback in the match.
The Giants’ chase got off to a bizarre start as they lost their captain Virender Sehwag on the score of 40 after four overs. Sehwag couldn’t get going in his innings and returned back to the dressing room having scored just six off ten balls. However, losing their captain didn’t the Giants as Kevin O’Brien continued his sublime form from the first game. The batter clobbered boundaries for fun ripping apart the bowling lineup of India Capitals.
As O’Brien continued his onslaught, other batters played second fiddle around him and were looking to just rotate the strike. Courtesy of O’Brien’s aggressive knock, the Capitals never fell behind in the game and were always ahead of the required run rate. The Irish batter was finally dismissed after scoring a magnificent 106 off 61 balls smashing 15 fours and three sixes in his innings.
With just one more run required to win, the Giants lost three wickets on the score of 179 and gave a mini heart attack to their fans. However, Pravin Tambe made things easy for them as he bowled a wide which got them home. The Giants won the game by three wickets with eight balls to spare.
The second match of the competition will be played today between Bhilwara Kings and Manipal Tigers.
