Gayle fifty headlines Giants’ win over Maharajas

World Giants 139 for 7 (Gayle 57, Watson 26, Yusuf 2-14) beat India Maharajas 136 for 9 (Raina 49, Bisla 36, Lee 3-18)

Chris Gayle’s 46-ball 57 made gentle work of World Giants’ chase of 137 after Brett Lee (3 for 18) bowled a game-changing penultimate over in opposition to India Maharajas on Wednesday. World Giants accomplished the chase with eight balls to spare to finish a routine win in Doha.

Gayle was clear about his intent from the beginning of the innings. He smashed six boundaries within the first three overs to pile distress on Maharajas’ bowlers, and was notably harsh on Ashok Dinda. In the sixth over, he hit him for 4, 6, 4 and 4 off consecutive deliveries.

Shane Watson added to the momentum with some classic pictures in his quickfire cameo. After taking two fours off Pravin Tambe within the seventh over, he smashed stand-in India Maharajas captain Harbhajan Singh for 2 consecutive boundaries within the subsequent.

Tambe quickly stalled Giants’ cruise, bowling a dream supply to dismiss Watson because the ball beat him on the surface edge and dislodged the off bail.

That dismissal, together with a number of wickets because the innings progressed, compelled Gayle to take a cautious strategy within the chase. Having reached his half-century in 26 balls, he managed solely seven within the subsequent 20. His innings was lower brief by Suresh Raina, who stunned him with a size ball that did not bounce a lot and trapped him proper in entrance.

Even although World Giants continued to lose wickets after that dismissal, cameos from Samit Patel and Morne van Wyk carried them over the road.

Earlier, within the absence of their common captain and in-form opener Gautam Gambhir, India Maharajas had been determined for a powerful begin. Robin Uthappa, coming off a spectacular fifty on Tuesday, didn’t look in management in opposition to Samit despite the fact that he had discovered a boundary off his second supply. Two balls later, Samit dismissed him with an arm ball, with the batter mis-hitting it to Aaron Finch at midwicket.

Raina tried to extend the scoring price, hitting Monty Panesar for 2 back-to-back sixes within the eighth over. First, he picked up a back-of-a-length supply and pulled it over deep midwicket after which stepped out to smash the subsequent over the bowler’s head.

However, Maharajas’ innings adopted the sample of stable partnerships adopted by fast wickets all through. After a 60-run stand between Raina and Manvinder Bisla, they misplaced Yusuf Pathan and Stuart Binny off consecutive deliveries.

Irfan Pathan’s cameo of 25 off 20 balls carried them for some time however Lee’s two wickets within the nineteenth over restricted them to a sub-par whole.