Muscat (Oman), Jan 22 (UNI) Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga's half-centuries helped Asia Lions beat World Giants by 6 wickets in the Legends League Cricket here at Al Amerat cricket ground .
Lions got off to a decent start while chasing a mammoth target of 206 on Friday. Monty Panesar struck for Giants as he dismissed Kamran Akmal for 14. Dilshan and Tharanga in the middle stitched a solid 88-run partnership for the second wicket, taking Lions past the 100-run mark inside 13th over.
Morne Morkel finally got the much-needed breakthrough as he dismissed Dilshan for 52. Morkel's compatriot Imran Tahir got rid of another set batter as Tharanga (63) was run out by the South African. Towards the end, skipper Misbah-ul-Haq's 11-ball 19, which saw two maximums and one four, took Lions home with four balls to spare.
Earlier, Kevin O'Brien's 46-ball 95 powered Giants to post 205/7 after being put into bat. Giants suffered an early blow as they lost Kevin Pietersen for 14. It was left-arm pacer Chaminda Vaas who got the prized wicket of the Englishman.
Phil Mustard and O'Brien rebuilt the innings, adding 52 runs for the second wicket. Mohammad Hafeez struck for Lions after the powerplay overs and removed Mustard for 28. While O'Brien stood tall, Giants continued to lose wickets on the other end.
Just when Giants were inching towards the 200-run mark, the off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan dismissed O'Brien. The Irishman's entertaining innings saw seven maximums and as many boundaries. For Lions, Hafeez and Nuwan Kulasekara picked two wickets each.
Brief scores: World Giants 205/7 in 20 overs (Kevin O'Brien 95; Nuwan Kulasekara 2/17, Mohammad Hafeez 2/32) lost to Asia Lions 209/4 in 19.2 overs (Upul Tharanga 63, Tillakaratne Dilshan 52; Morne Morkel 2/38) by 6 wickets.
UNI PN RNJ