Hyderabad, Sep 19: Trinidad and Tobago began their Nokia Champions League Twenty20 Qualifiers campaign with a five-wicket win over Sri Lankan club Ruhunu Eleven. The star of the match for T and T was Sherwin Ganga who rescued the side from a score of 81 for five by playing a feisty knock of 39 in the Caribbean side’s chase.
Earlier, after winning the toss and opting to bat first, Ruhunu put in a sub-par score when they were bowled out by T and T for 138. Dinesh Chandimal top scored for the Sri Lankan club with a half-century but other than Chandimal, the Ruhunu batsmen either didn’t get going (Milinda Siriwardana 1) or failed to convert their starts into something more meaningful (Sanath Jayasuriya 13, Janaka Gunaratne 20, TM Sampath 23). The other disappointing aspect to the Ruhunu innings was that they lost as many as five batsmen to run outs, three of which occurred in the final over of their innings.
On a Hyderabad wicket that was keeping slow, Ruhunu responded to T&T’s ploy of opening the bowling with spin (legspinner Samuel Badree bowled the very first over for T&T) with an offspinner, Janaka Gunaratne. Sanath Jayasuriya was introduced at the other end and together both Ruhunu spinners bagged three wickets between them to leave T&T wobbling at 28 for three.
T and T lost two more wickets (Denesh Ramdin 18 and Jason Mohammed 17) then staged a comeback. With the score at 81 for five in 13.5 overs, Sherwin Ganga (39* off 15) played a blinder to rescue T&T and guide them home. Darren Bravo remained unbeaten with a steady 44 off 49 deliveries.
T and T play their second qualifier against Leicestershire Foxes at 4:00 pm (IST) tomorrow, while Ruhunu Eleven get a day’s break before taking on Leicestershire in a must-win game on September 21.
Brief scores: Trinidad and Tobago 144/5 in 18.5 overs (Darren Bravo 44 not out, Sherwin Ganga 39 not out, Janaka Gunaratne 2/20) beat Ruhunu Eleven 138/10 in 20.0 overs (Dinesh Chandimal 50, TN Sampath 23, Ravi Rampaul 2/17) by five wickets
Man-of-the-match: Sherwin Ganga for his unbeaten 39 from just 15 deliveries which included four fours and two sixes
