Lauderhill, Florida: The Texas Chargers registered a big win on an important day, as they defeated the Atlanta Riders by 22 runs on Friday. The Chargers were the dominant unit on the day, as they swatted away the challenge from the Riders with relative ease.
Batting first, the Texas Chargers got off to a good start as Mukhtar Ahmed took the attack to the bowlers, while Mohammad Hafeez played the waiting game. Ahmed got 17 from 7 before being dismissed.
Soon after, Hafeez was packed off for 2 but from then on in, it became the Ben Dunk show. The captain led from the front, while the likes of Thisara Perera (2) and Upul Tharanga (9) fell cheaply as they looked to accelerate.
Dunk, who was hitting it cleanly, got to his fifty in the seventh over, before Elias Sunny had his number. Dunk got 53 from 22 balls, setting up the platform for a good finish in the final few overs. Darren Stevens and Phil Mustard added a few big blows after that, taking the Chargers to 124/5 after their quota of 10 overs.
In response, the Atlanta Riders lost Robin Uthappa off the first delivery for a duck, leaving Lendl Simmons and Nasir Hossain with a rebuilding task from then on in. However, Hossain was the next to depart for 1, and Hamilton Masakadza (0) followed suit a couple of deliveries later.
By the end of the second over, the Riders had lost a fourth wicket in Zunaed Siddique (0), as Imran Khan ended his first over with three wickets. Hammad Azam (26) and Simmons looked to counter-attack and put on a 33-run stand after that, before the former was dismissed. The Riders were 5 down and the task on hand was getting tougher.
Simmons was the next to depart for 16 as Pragyan Ojha struck, and at the midway mark, the Riders’ score read 58/6. The Riders lost a seventh when Mukhtar Ali was cleaned up by Mohammad Hafeez for 2, before an 8th wicket fell at the start off the seventh over, as Rayad Emrit was run out for 3.
An attack minded Harmeet Singh added 22 to the cause, but was the 9th wicket to fall, after which Sunny (20*) and Kamrul Islam (5*) batted out the rest of the overs. The Chargers won by 22 runs.
Brief Scores:
Texas Chargers – 124/5 (Ben Dunk – 53, Darren Stevens – 29*; Nasir Hossain – 2/17, Elias Sunny – 1/9) won by 22 runs against the Atlanta Riders – 102/9 (Hammad Azam – 26, Harmeet Singh – 22; Imran Khan – 4/2, Pragyan Ojha – 1/18)
