Rafique leads Dhaka Warriors to victory

PANCHKULA: Dhaka Warriors won their fourth match of the tournament by defeating Ahmedabad Rockets by 13 runs at the Tau Devi Lal stadium, Panchkula, on Monday. Mohd Rafique led the Warriors' charge returning with figures of three for 31. He was declared Man of the Match.
Chasing a target of 182 runs, Ahmedabad were bundled out at 168 for the loss off eight wickets.Murray Goodwin's defiant knock of 57 was the only semblance of resistance put up by the team, which has struggled throughout the tournament. One after another, batsmen walked back to the pavilion showing utter lack of application. Warriors bowlers troubled Ahmedabad batsmen right from the start. Rafique took the important wicket of R Sodhi before getting Baburao Yadav clean bowled.
Earlier, Ahmedabad won the toss and put Dhaka in to bat. As usual, they got of to a flying start with opener Nazimuddin scoring 48 off just 29 balls. His electric start had four sixes and three fours. Alok Kapali carried on his good form, scoring 26 runs (2x4, 1x6) in the middle order.
However, it was Mahbubul Karim who terrorized the Ahmedabad bowlers towards the end with a quick 45 (4x4, 3x6). Karim and wicketkeeper Ghosh took the team total to 181 for the loss of seven wickets. Seasoned Habibul Bashar could not capitalize on his start and got out to a Sriram delivery.
For Ahmedabad, Jason Gillespie was the most successful bowler by scalping three wickets. He got rid of both the openers and clean-bowled Ghosh just when he was looking dangerous. He gave away 29 runs.
Ahmedabad's bowling was marked by discipline and well backed by good fielding. Captain Martyn rotated his bowlers well and tried to utilize his bowlers efficiently.
Brief Scores: Ahmedabad Rockets (Murray Goodwin 57, R Sodhi 13, R Campbell 12, J Gillespie 3/29, Sriram 2/37) vs Dhaka Warriors 181/7 (Nazimuddin 48, Karim 45, Kapali 26, M Rafique 3/31).