PANCHKULA: Former Pakistan pacer Shabeer Ahmed sparkled with a hat-trick as Chennai Superstars claimed the inaugural ICL twenty20 tournament after defeating local favorites Chandigarh Lions by 12 runs in the final match here on Sunday. The Lions, chasing 156 for victory, could manage only 143 for eight as a late onslaught by Andrew Hall (30) and Sarabjit Singh (27) failed to save them from defeat at the Tau Devi Lal stadium.
The winning team got richer by Rs 3.9 crore while the runners-up pocketed Rs 1.9 crore. Shabeer first dismissed opener Hamish Marshall (3) having him caught, then bowled dangerous looking Dinesh Mongia (21) and finally trapped Chetan Sharma before the wicket to complete his hat-trick.
Shabeer, had also provided the initial breakthrough to Superstars having opener Imran Farhat (4) caught by Read. Ian Harvey also played an important part in his team's victory as he removed the top order batsmen T P Singh (35) and skipper Chris Cairns (5) to turn the tide in favor of the Superstars. It was an electric atmosphere as over 10,000 people turned up to watch the final.
Looking in a holiday mood, the crowds enjoyed the presence of Bollywood stars like Ajay Devgan, Ayesha Takia and Irfan Khan coupled with top models walking the ramp during the innings break. Punjab Governor and Chandigarh Administrator General (retd) S F Rodrigues too turned up to catch the exciting moments of the match played under flood lights.
Earlier, put into bat, the Superstars raced to 63 in the seventh over but found themselves on backfoot as wickets kept tumbling. Opener Ganapathi Vignesh (15) hit two fours and a six before holding out to Manish Sharma off Daryl Tuffey in the second over.
His fall brought Chris Read to the wicket and he along with Ian Harvey added 43 off 31 balls before Read (16) ran himself out while attempting to steal a single on the last ball of the 7th over. Read's run out triggered a series of run-outs as Superstars lost four of eight wickets fell in the same fashion.
Backed by the home crowd, Dinesh Mongia dismissed Russel Arnold (5) in the 9th over when the batsman failed to keep the ball down and was caught by Chetan Sharma. Ian Harvey, who looked set to score a big innings, was run out on 36 by some superb back-hand throw at stumps by wicketkeeper Sarabjit Singh when the former Australian player tried to steal a run.
Hemang Badani (20) and skipper Stuart Law then steadied the innings by adding 33 runs, before Tuffey castled former's stumps in the 16th over.
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