Hemant Kumar maintains Chennai Superstars’ supremacy in clash of the Titans.

The 10th match of the ICL 20-20 domestic tournament featured the clash of the domestic heavyweights. The crowds got to see Chennai Superstars & Delhi Giants take on each other at the Lahari Resorts ground- Hyderabad. Both teams came into this match with an unbeaten record .The match was previewed by experts as the best encounter at the round robin stage.

In the end it was the boys from South India, who came up at the top in the great “North VS South” clash between the two domestic titans on the ICL platform. The win was powered by a solid opening partnership of 91 runs between Vignesh & Hemant Kumar resulting in the Superstars maintaining an edge over their arch north Indian rivals. Hemant Kumar was declared man of the match for his superb knock of 80 runs of 48balls, including 10 fours & 3 sixes.

Earlier in the day Giants’ skipper Yadav won the toss and put the Superstars in to bat. Superstars opened guard with their potent combination of Vignesh & Kumar who set the tempo with some daring stroke-play. Their superb 91 run partnership (highest opening stand partnership in the tournament), had the Superstars dictate the pattern of play right from the start of the innings. It was Hemant Kumar & his brilliant innings all the way which helped the Chennai side score 167/ 7 in their allotted 20 overs.

In reply none of the top three Giants’ batsmen got going and were restricted primarily due to a superb bowling spell from Superstars’ pacer Jesuraj, who returned with a match winning spell of 3/10 in his allotted 4 over spell. The Giants’ cause received a further bolt with the quick dismissals of their dependable middle order duo Abbas Ali & JP Yadav. The only significant contributions from the Giants’ stable came from the bats of Dhruv Mahajan 27 (26balls) and a late onslaught from Abid Nabi 41 (15 balls; including 1 four & 5 sixes).

In the end the Giants chase fell short of the target by 24 runs; taking the Superstars to the top of the table with three wins from the same number of matches.