Florida’s Lauderhill, on August 25, 2023: The Texas Chargers upset the Atlanta Riders by 22 runs on Friday, scoring a significant victory on a significant day. The Chargers were the team that outperformed everyone else on the field, easily fending off the Riders’ challenge.
When Texas Chargers batted first, they got off to a strong start as Mukhtar Ahmed attacked the bowlers and Mohammad Hafeez played the waiting game. Ahmed received 17 out of 7 before getting expelled.
Hafeez was soon sent out for two, but from that point on, it was the Ben Dunk show. When they attempted to accelerate, players like Thisara Perera (2) and Upul Tharanga (9) fell cheaply as the captain took the lead from the front.
Before Elias Sunny had his number, Dunk, who was hitting the ball cleanly, reached his fifty in the seventh over. Dunk scored 53 runs off just 22 balls, laying the groundwork for a successful conclusion in the last four overs. After that, Darren Stevens and Phil Mustard added a few significant blows, bringing the Chargers’ total after their allotted 10 overs to 124/5.
Lendl Simmons and Nasir Hossain had to start over from scratch when the Atlanta Riders lost Robin Uthappa off the first delivery for a duck. Hossain, who was the next to go for 1, and Hamilton Masakadza (0), who did the same a few deliveries later, both did so.
Imran Khan finished his first over with three wickets, but the Riders had lost a fourth wicket by the conclusion of the second over in Zunaed Siddique (0). After attempting a counterattack, Hammad Azam (26) and Simmons put up a 33-run stand before the former was removed. With the Riders down 5 points, the task at hand was becoming more difficult.
As Pragyan Ojha scored, Simmons became the second player to leave the game, leaving the Riders with a score of 58/6. The Riders lost a seventh wicket when Mukhtar Ali was run out for two at the start of the seventh over, and then an eighth wicket when Rayad Emrit was run out for three.
Harmeet Singh, who was attacking-minded, contributed 22 to the cause but was the ninth wicket to go, and Sunny (20*) and Kamrul Islam (5*) then batted out the remaining overs. By 22 runs, the Chargers prevailed.
Brief ratings:
Texas Chargers defeated Atlanta Riders, 102/9 (Hammad Azam, 26, Harmeet Singh, 4/2, Pragyan Ojha, 1/18), by 22 runs (Ben Dunk, 53, Darren Stevens, 29*; Nasir Hossain, 2/17, Elias Sunny).
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