Ross Taylor played a crucial knock as India Capitals made an excellent recovery after stumbling early to post 211/7 in 20 overs against Bhilwara Kings in the grand final of the SKY247.net Legends League Cricket (LLC) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Wednesday.
Ross Taylor (82 off 41 balls) and Mitchell Johnson (62 off 35 balls) were the architects of the Capitals innings, sharing a 126-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
For the Kings, spinner Rahul Sharma was the best, taking 4/30 from his four overs.
The Kings had actually got a dream start to the final after winning the toss and electing to field. Captain Irfan Pathan’s ploy to start with spin from both ends paid dividends as the Capitals found themselves four wickets down by the fifth over.
Capitals captain Gautam Gambhir was the first to go, stumped off the bowling of left-arm spinner Monty Panesar in the very first over.
Hamilton Masakadza, who was in terrific form all through the tournament, was next cleaned up by Rahul. A ball later Denesh Ramdin was trapped lbw by Rahul. Then, Dwayne Smith became Panesar’s second victim, caught at mid-on.
At 21/4, the Capitals were staring down the barrel. But then began the counterattack. Taylor and Johnson caught the Kings’ bowlers by the scruff of their necks and thrashed them to all parts of the ground.
The ninth over of the match was the turning point of the Capitals’ innings. Former New Zealand captain Taylor crushed Yusuf Pathan’s spin to take 30 runs from the over. He hit four sixes and a four in the over.
With Taylor going great guns, Johnson too got the confidence to go for the big shots. In between the Kings missed a golden chance to take back control of the match when Tino best dropped Taylor at long on off Rahul.
Former England pacer Tim Bresnan finally broke the partnership, dismissing Johnson in the 15th over. But by then, Johnson had seven fours and three sixes.
Momentum on their side, the Capitals continued with the fireworks, with Taylor looking unstoppable. But Rahul dismissed Taylor in the 17th over and that hurt the Capitals plans a bit. Taylor hit eight monstrous sixes and four boundaries as well.
Ashley Nurse (42 off 19 balls) played a nice cameo in the death overs to boost the Capitals’ total.
Report- Pratyusha Mukherjee