[vinnomot] Dhaka Warriors defeated Delhi Giants

Monday, October 20, 2008

[vinnomot] Dhaka Warriors defeated Delhi Giants

Delhi Giants v Dhaka Warriors, ICL, Ahmedabad

Nazimuddin helps Dhaka post first win

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera in Hyderabad

October 20, 2008

Dhaka Warriors 174 for 5 (Nazimuddin 54) beat Delhi Giants 112 (Sharif 2-18, Rafique 2-19) by 62 runs
Scorecard

Dhaka Warriors secured their first win by defeating Delhi Giants by the biggest victory margin of the tournament. Mohammed Nazimuddin set up a stiff target with a breezy half-century as Delhi crumbled for the second-lowest total of the tournament.

Delhi depended heavily on the big hitters Avishka Gunawardene and Paul Nixon to overhaul the target of 174, but neither could do the job today. Gunawardene ran himself out by straying outside the crease rather lazily only to find the bowler Farhad Reza fire in a direct hit. Nixon was sent lower down the order but fell cheaply, stumped after missing an attempted reverse sweep. Nixon left the team in disarray at 46 for 5 and the target was beyond the lower order.

It was a disciplined bowling performance by Dhaka. Mohammad Sharif triggered the demolition with a double strike in the fourth over of the chase. He first induced Monish Mishra to mishit to mid-on where Habibul Bashar back pedalled to take a good catch, and then knocked out pinch-hitter Sudhindra for a first ball duck. On a hard pitch where the Delhi batsmen found it difficult to get going their Dhaka counterparts made merry led by the rampaging Nazimuddin.

There is this interesting story about Nazimuddin growing up as a cricketer. It was an Under-19 World Cup pre-tournament camp and he was made to get into a 40-minute ice bath at 7 am in the winter. A sobbing Nazimuddin called his mother after the ordeal and asked, "You want you son alive or you want a cricket player?" And the reply was, "a son who is a cricket player." Nazimuddin didn't call home for the next four weeks but eventually realised the value of the advice. It was his journey into manhood.

His game is very simple - see the ball and hit it and if you don't see it, still go for it. As a result consistency has never been his forte but when it comes off, it's thrilling to watch. Today was one of those joyous days. He got going with three fierce square cuts before shuffling across to the off to pull one to the long-leg boundary. However, it was in the sixth over, Shane Bond's first, that he really erupted in style. Remember, this is the first time he is facing Bond in his career. His response? The first ball flew over long-on and the second, a length delivery, was flung over long-leg.

In the next over, he swung Sudhindra for three sixes - two long-leg sixes were sandwiched with a crunching hit to the sightscreen. He fell, swinging Jai P Yadav to long-on. But by then, he had laid the perfect platform for Alok Kapali to do his act.

Ever since he returned to international cricket earlier this year, Kapali starts his innings slowly and correctly, playing in the V. Three runs came in ten balls today before he began his assault. He chose the left-arm spinner Ali Murtaza for special treatment. Twenty runs flooded the 16th over comprising three fours and a six pinged the arc from square leg to sweeper cover. He holed out in the deep with the score on 148 but Bashar ensured Dhaka finished strongly.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at Cricinfo

Nazimuddin helps Dhaka post first win