The second match of the Legends League Cricket 2022 was played between Manipal Tigers and Bhilwara Kings at Lucknow on Sunday. Kings captain Irfan Pathan won the toss and invited the Tigers to bat first. Tigers’ openers Ravikant Shukla and Swapnil Asnodkar walked out to give a solid start to their team.
The decision to bowl first was further vindicated by Pathan himself and Fidel Edwards who started the innings with a flurry of wickets. Pathan struck in the first over itself as he removed Shukla for 1. Edwards joined the party in the next over dismissing dangerous Corey Anderson for a golden duck. He further showed the way to the pavilion to Swapnil Asnodkar and Ricardo Powell dismissing them in the fourth over of the innings.
Courtesy of the incredible bowling spell by Pathan and Edwards, the Tigers were left reeling at 15/4 after 3.5 overs. Seeing his team in trouble, veteran batter Mohammad Kaif put his hand up and began playing a responsible innings. He got support from Pradeep Sahu and they both added 59 runs for the sixth wicket.
Sahu got dismissed after playing a great cameo of 30 runs off just 19 balls. Kaif continued his brilliant knock from the other end as he kept on finding boundaries regularly throughout his innings. He was finally dismissed on the last ball of the innings after scoring a brilliant 73 off 59 balls. The Tigers finished their innings with a score of 153 on the board for the loss of seven wickets. Fidel Edwards picked up four wickets for 30 runs in his four overs.
The Kings’ chase got off to a miserable start with openers Naman Ojha and William Porterfield getting dismissed in the first two overs. After losing their openers, Nick Compton and Tanmay Srivastava added 46 runs for the third wicket. Both failed to convert their starts into a big score and the Kings were four down for 75 after 10 overs.
A brilliant knock from Yusuf Pathan of 44 off 28 balls saw his team home with two balls to spare. After Yusuf’s dismissal in the 19th over, Tino Best did the finishing job, scoring 15 off just seven balls. The Kings won the match by three wickets. Fidel Edwards was awarded ‘Player for the Match’ for his outstanding bowling spell.
