McMillan stars in Royal Bengal Tigers’s victory

HYDERABAD: Spurred by skipper Craig McMillan’s swashbuckling 69, Royal Bengal Tigers registered a 35-run victory over Delhi Giants in the Indian Cricket League at the Lal Bahadur Stadium here on Thursday night. Setting its opponent a target of 172, the Tigers restricted its rival to 136 for eight.

Sedate start

In contrast to the earlier essay, the Giants were off to a sedate start, thanks to a taut attack that bowled to its field. A frustrated Dihan Gunawardene shuffled to take a swipe at Sujay Tarafdar only to hear the inevitable crash behind. Giants’ skipper Marvan Atapattu stepped out to Upul Chandana, missed the line and Deep Dasgupta rearranged the sticks in a flash.

It was the Lankan leggie who engineered the exit of dangerman Paul Nixon, luring him into a skier that Andre Adams held at long-on. With four overs remaining and as many wickets in hand, the Giants needed 75 runs, a tall order against a bowling line that left little room to score off. Tarafdar, Chandana and Adams shared the bowling spoils with two wickets each.

Earlier, the Royal Bengal Tigers scored 171 for seven, equalling the highest total this season, posted by Hyderabad Heroes the night before. Craig McMillan called right and chose to bat.

The scoreboard got ticking soon enough with Dasgupta’s boundary in the opening over followed up by a six and four in the next from Hamish Marshall off Salabh Srivastav. The New Zealander didn’t spare T.P. Sudhindhra either, smacking a sweetly timed six over long on.

Just when the Tigers looked well and truly launched, Marshall set off for a single from a misfield. Ali Murtuza struck the solitary stump in his sights from point. Shane Bond then had Abhishek Jhunjhunwala edging a catch to first slip Marvan Atapattu. Midway through the contest, the Tigers were 80 for three, with skipper McMillan and Lance Klusener in the middle.

Sense of urgency

A sense of urgency showed in the scoring as it perked up with McMillan nearing his half century. The onetime salesman smashed three sixes and a four off Abhinav Bali alone, before the latter snared him into swatting into the hands of Atapattu at point. It was a captain’s knock from the Kiwi allrounder, whose endeavour was embellished by four sixes and seven boundaries in his 40-ball 69.

The scores: Royal Bengal Tigers 171 for seven (Craig McMillan 69) bt Delhi Giants 136 for eight.