Robin Uthappa and Sachin Tendulkar with NCL Sixty Strikes trophy
In a stunning display of power-hitting, Chicago CC emerged victorious against Atlanta Kings in the National Cricket League Sixty Strikes tournament on Monday. Coming out to bat first, Chicago set the moment right from the first over, with skipper Robin Uthappa leading the charge. Leonardo Julien and Mikyle Louis also contributed heavily with the bat as Chicago put an on-par score of 160/4 on the board in 10 overs. Atlanta tried their best to accelerate the run-rate in the chase but were also found behind the asking scoring rate. In the end, they suffered a 43-run defeat.
Chicago knew they had to put a big score on the board, knowing the damage that Atlanta can do with the bat. After Uthappa scored 15-ball 35, Julien (61 off 22) and Louis (43 off 17) stepped up with big contributions to give help their side post a daunting total on the board.
Ben Russell was the pick of the bowlers for Atlanta, picking up three wickets for 28 runs in 2 overs. However, he lacked support from the other end of the pitch. Atlanta's Danish Aziz faced the brunt of Chicago's batters, conceding a mind-boggling 53 runs in just 2 overs.
For Atlanta, orchestrating good partnerships remained a difficult task with the bat as well. Though there were a few good isolated performances, they couldn't quite get hold of the asking run-rate. James Neesham (29 off 16) and Tom Bruce (61 off 21) did their best in the search of the humungous score but the efforts were in vain.
Sohail Tanvir was the pick of the bowlers for Chicago, picking up 2 wickets for just 13 runs in 2 overs. Leonardo Julien was named the Player of the Match for his exemplary knock of 61 runs.