A big thunderstorm drenched the outfield and brought an abrupt end to the pulsating Champions League T20 contest between Trinidad & Tobago and Titans at Motera on Monday.
With the livewire A.B. de Villiers in terrific form, the Titans would have fancied its chances. But the grim situation forced the umpires to award four points to T&T because it was ahead of its opponent by the Duckworth-Lewis calculations. For the second time in seven days, a goodly crowd in excess of 10,000 returned home disappointed.
Titans, asked to chase 159, fell short by six runs. T&T had in fact scored 162 at the conclusion of the 17th bowled by fast bowler Morne Morkel.
With a superior net run rate T&T moved to the second spot behind Chennai Super Kings (CSK). All it has to do now is to protect its net run rate against CSK at Delhi on Wednesday in order to make the semifinals.
The second match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Brisbane Heat was called off at 9 p.m. This outcome enabled Sunrisers gain two points and move to six and the Australian side opened its account (2).
Bright start
Chasing 189 at a stiff 9.45 runs an over, the South Africans appeared to be on course with skipper Henry Davids making a big impact in a bright opening stand that even compelled Denesh Ramdin to introduce the tricky off spinner Sunil Narine in the Power-Play overs.
After falling to seamer Rayad Emrit, the Titans skipper changed his batting line-up, asking de Villiers to bat at No. 5.
But the T&T skipper brought back Narine for a second spell, and he reduced the Titans to 137 for six. But de Villiers hammered two fours and a six, the predicted thunderstorm took over and the teams staged a hasty retreat to the pavilion.
After a seemingly eternal wait caused by constant rainfall last week, the CLT20 competition announced itself here with an electrifying knock from a little known Trindadian Evin Lewis and a charming and crafty undertaking from Darren Bravo.
Riding on their explosive 109 run stand for the second wicket that mirrored plenty of Caribbean panache, T & T raced towards an impressive score with 13 sixes and with Narine providing a roaring finish with a straight six off Marchant de Lange.
Keen and eager to show off his gifts, Lewis first lashed out at Morkel with a front foot slash for a six and then cut loose against the rest.
Scoreboard
Trinidad & Tobago: Lendl Simmons b de Lange 0 (7b), Evin Lewis c Richards b van der Merwe 70 (35b, 7x4, 5x6), Darren Bravo b de Lange 63 (44b, 5x4, 4x6), Nicolas Pooran c van der Merwe b Davids 11 (10b, 1x6), Navin Stewart c Mosehle b de Lange 23 (15b, 1x4, 2x6), Denesh Ramdin c Mosehle b Morkel 6 (4b, 1x4), Sunil Narine (not out) 8 (3b,1x6), Jason Mohammad (not out) 1(2b); Extras (lb-1,w-5): 6; Total (for six wkts. in 20 overs): 188.
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (Simmons), 2-113 (Lewis), 3-145 (Pooran), 4-164 (Bravo), 5-171 (Ramdin), 6-179 (Stewart)
Titans bowling: Morkel 4-1-29-1, de Lange 4-0-38-3, Richards 2-0-26-0, Wiese 3-0-26-0, Davids 3-0-31-1, Behardien 1-0-12-0, van der Merwe 3-0-25-1.
Titans: Henry Davids b Emrit 42 (22b, 4x4, 2x6), Jacques Rudolph c Emrit b Simmons 31 (28b, 4x4), Heino Kuhn c Lewis b Badree 7 (8b), Roelof van der Merwe c Bravo b Simmons 4 (5b), A.B. de Villiers (not out) 23 (13b, 2x4s, 1x6), Farhaan Behardien c Lewis b Narine 29 (18b, 3x4), David Wiese c Badree b Narine 0 (2b), Mangaliso Mosehle (not out) 11 (5b, 2x4); Extras (lb-2, nb-1,w-3): 6; Total (for six wkts. in 17 overs): 153.
Fall of wickets: 1-65 (Davids), 2-79 (Kuhn), 3-88 (Rudolph), 4-88 (van der Merwe), 5-137 (Behardien), 6-137 (Wiese).
Trinidad & Tobago bowling: Rampaul 3-0-31-0, Badree 3-0-33-1, Narine 4-0-23-2, Emrit 3-0-31-1, Stewart 1-0-15-0, Simmons 3-0-18-2.
Man-of-the-match: Evin Lewis.
Trinidad & Tobago won by 6 runs (D/L method).
