Twitter Reactions: Upul Tharanga, Tillakaratne Dilshan steer Asia Lions to stunning victory

More than 400 runs scored on a single T20 game in the day, a stat that will always enlighten the fans but it came out to be a rough day for the bowlers. It was raining sixes in the second game of Legends League Cricket 2022 as the flat pitch favoured the batting side a lot more and two games now on the trot have been won by the chasing side in the ground. Kevin O Brien’s blistering 95 was not enough for the World Giants to stop the Asia Lions from winning the encounter by 6 wickets.

Earlier in the game, the Asia Lions won the toss and opted to bowl first at the Al Amerat Cricket Ground in Oman. England’s Kevin Pietersen and Phil Mustard started off the innings brightly. Pietersen could not last longer while Mustard and Kevin O Brien built up inroads for a back end finish.

The Ireland right-hander, who is known for his big-hitting, broke the shackles and amassed 95 in just 46 deliveries. The 37-year-old pummelled Azhar Mahmood in particular to all parts of the ground and hit seven fours and seven sixes in his innings to take the team score to 205 for 7 in 20 overs.

Asia Lions master the 200 plus run chase easily

A chase of  206 was never going to be easy and it needed at least two of the batters to contribute immensely at a better strike are as well. Sri Lankan duo Tilakaratne Dilshan(52) and Upul Tharanga(63) did the exact work for the Asia Lions to keep them in the hunt with a quickfire 88 run partnership and reduced the workload on the new batters. Mohammad Hafeez played his part as well with a 1- ball 27 alongside his two wickets in the first innings.

An important thing to be noted in the run chase was the Asia Lions had always stuck with the required run rate and never allowed it to creep above which could have been difficult for new batters. The momentum was on the Asia Lions side despite them having some hiccups at the back end of the innings, as Asghar Afghan and skipper Misbah Ul Haq finished off the innings with four balls to spare.

Most of the bowlers in the World Giants had conceded more than 8 runs an over and it proved to be costly in the end. The skipper Darren Sammy will look worried by the bowling card after the game as they are all set to play the India Maharajas in their next encounter tomorrow at the same venue.

Here’s how Twitterati reacted to Asia Lions win: