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Karnataka Tuskers' Amla lauds Tharanga, Shafiq

Abu Dhabi - Ahmed Raza took two for 11, while Nathan Rimmington was the pick of the Tuskers' bowlers with three for 28.

The Karnataka Tuskers finally bucked the trend to get the better of the Delhi Bulls in the fifth match of the Aldar Properties Abu Dhabi T10 League on Saturday night.
The first four fixtures had followed a similar pattern of teams winning the toss and bowling first and then chasing down a target.
But the Tuskers, who were put in, managed to defend 110, to win by 19 runs at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
The Delhi Bulls captain, Eoin Morgan, along with Angelo Mathews, again tried to make a fist of it but it was a bridge too far to swim across.
Ahmed Raza, who captained the UAE in the men's T20 World Cup qualifiers recently, took two for 11, while Nathan Rimmington was the pick of the bowlers with three for 28. Patrick Brown returned with two for 19.
Tuskers captain Hashim Amla, who is playing this format for the first time, was delighted to pull it off.
"T10, obviously is quite exciting and even if you post a 110, it seems like you if can score close to 100 or above, it still can be defended," reckoned Amla.
"As I said during the toss that most teams who have chased well, did take the game quite deep. It wasn't really an easy chase. Fortunately, our bowlers bowled really well, we fielded really well and we managed to defend a good total," he added.
The former South African international heaped praise on Upul Tharanga and Shafiqullah Shafiq who scored 48 and 34 respectively. 
"It was all credit to Upul and Shafiqullah. They batted really well to get us to that total. And in the fielding, catches that Shafiqullah and Johnson Charles took, were fantastic catches to keep us in the game," Amla said.
Meanwhile, Delhi Bulls coach Stephen Fleming said such things can happen in a format such as this.
"A little bit comes down to just a start and we sort of stuttered at the start and we really didn't get going. We started to close-in but then started to lose wickets at key times. It's really the nature of the game," said Fleming.
james@khaleejtimes.com