Hyderabad|India|October'2008: The second match of the ICL 20s Indian Championship, featured debutants Dhaka Warriors, take on the top ranked ICL side Chennai Superstars at the LB stadium Hyderabad. In the end, the Chennai Superstars with an all round disciplined & tactical performance proved their top five world rankings with a comprehensive 6 wicket victory. The match also proved the strong bench strength of the Chennai Superstars arsenal with them missing a lot of key players due to injury. J Syed Mohammed was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant spell of spin bowling.

 

Earlier in the evening Warriors' skipper Habib Ul Bashar won the toss and elected to bat, wanting to take advantage of the sporting wicket. The Warriors set about their campaign with the left–right formidable opening combination of Shahriar Nafees & Mohammad Nazimuddin. Three sparkling off side boundaries of the bat of the attacking Nafees had the Warriors placed at 16 for no loss at the end of the first 2 overs. Going for a shot too many had Nafees, sky a mistimed shot to Syed off the bowling of Jesuraj, for a quick fire 18 off 13 balls, including four hits to the boundary.

 

The extravagant stroke-play from the top order Warriors saw them off to a flier, placed at 54/1 in the first 5 overs; including seven boundaries & two sixes. Aftab Ahmed was living up to his coach's prophecy, dealing in big boundaries & scoring at a strike rate of two hundred percent. Some tight bowling from Superstars' premiere spinner Syed & medium pacer Vignesh put some breaks on the Warrior's batting juggernaut. At the half way mark of their innings the Warriors' were handsomely placed at 80/2.

 

Aftab's cameo came to an end due to the unsuccessful execution of the reverse sweep that saw him castled by the impressive Syed for a well made thirty. Just when the Warriors were taking charge of the match, the Superstars came back with a bang destroying the Warriors' middle order, reducing the Warriors to 89/5 in the 12^th over, showing why they are today ranked amongst the top T20 sides of the world. Syed was working up a great spell of spin bowling, ending with an impressive figure of 1/12 in his allotted four overs. The Warriors never quite recovered from the middle order collapse & a fighting 21 from the young wicket keeper batsman Dhiman Ghosh saw the Warriors restricted to 142/6 in their allotted 20 overs.

 

The Superstars chase got off to a great start with the potent opening combination of Harvey & Vignesh getting off to an explosive start scoring 36 runs off the first two overs. The Superstars fifty came in only the third over off only seventeen balls, creating a record for the fastest fifty in the T20 format of the game; the dashing Vignesh going hammer & tongs after the left arm pacer Manjural Islam Rana.

 

It finally took an arm ball from the experienced Rafique to end to explosive partnership with Vignesh's wicket for a well made 25 off only 10 balls. A twin spin attack in form of Rafique & Mosharraf Hossain got the warriors back in the game with two quick wickets of Harvey and Jesuraj. At the half way mark of their innings, the Superstars were well placed towards reaching their target at 94/3. The Warriors never quite recovered from the deadly opening onslaught of Vignesh & Harvey. A composed 54 run partnership between the experienced Arnold & Hemanth Kumar saw the Superstars score a comprehensive 6 wicket victory, with two overs to spare.