Lucknow, Sep 20 (Cricket News) Parthiv Patel and Thisara Perera held their nerves under pressure to guide Gujarat Giants to a two-wicket win over Manipal Tigers in the Legends League Cricket here.

Chasing a modest 121 on Monday night, the Giants were 2 for 2 in 1.3 overs after former Zimbabwe pacer Chris Mpofu (2/26) dismissed skipper Virender Sehwag (1) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (0) in a span of three balls.

But Parthiv (34 from 17 balls; 6x4s, 1×6) took the attack to the opposition by hitting three consecutive boundaries in the third over, bowled by Englishman Ryan Sidebottom.

The diminutive wicketkeeper-batter followed that up with a six and three more fours in the next over, bowled by Mpofu to set the tempo before former Sri Lanka all-rounder Perera took Giants close to the target with his 20-ball 22 (4x4s).

The Tigers tried to claw their way back late in the match with master spinners Harbhajan Singh (2/23) and Muttiah Muralidharan (2/10 from 2.2 overs).

But Graeme Swann slammed two fours in the 17th over to release the pressure.

The Giants sealed the affair when Murali bowled a wide ball in the 18th over to secure their second win and move to the top of the table.

Earlier asked to bat, the Tigers struggled to break free against a tidy bowling display by the pace trio of Ashok Dinda (2/22), Mitchell McClenaghan (0/6 in 2 overs) and Rayad Emrit (1/5 in 2 overs).

The Tigers lost three wickets within the Powerplay and were eventually restricted to 120 for 8.

Brief Scores Manipal Tigers: 120 for 8 in 20 overs (Ravikant Shukla 32, Mohammad Kaif 24; Tillakaratne Dilshan 2/18, Ashok Dinda 2/22) lost to Gujarat Titans: 121 for 8 in 17.2 overs (Parthiv Patel 34; Muttiah Muralitharan 2/10, Parvinder Awana 2/13, Harbhajan Singh 2/23, Chris Mpofu 2/26). Gujarat Titans won by two wickets. 

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News Source : PTI