File photo – Farhaan Behardien belted four sixes during his seventh T20 fifty © AFP
South Africa finisher Farhaan Behardien did the same job for his franchise, his 33-ball 65 leading Titans to their fourth successive victory in the T20 Challenge, beating Dolphins by 58 runs. After Behardien’s seventh T20 fifty carried Titans to 185 for 4, seamer Junior Dala and legspinner Shaun von Berg threw the chase off the track with three-wicket hauls.
Having been sent in, Titans sprinted to 42 for 0 in the Powerplay. Three overs later Imran Tahir provided Dolphins the breakthrough by pinning Grant Mokoena lbw for 25. Cameron Delport and Kyle Nipper then struck in successive overs to send back Jonathan Vandiar and Heinrich Klaasen, bringing Titans to 89 for 3 in 12 overs.
Enter Behardien. He added 93 in 46 balls with Heino Kuhn to pull his team ahead. Kuhn was eventually run-out for 32 off 17 balls in the last over of the innings, but by then Titans had passed 180. Behardien stayed unbeaten with one four and four sixes.
Chasing 186, Dolphins lost Delport early to Dala, but Morne van Wyk and Kevin Pietersen, who was playing his first T20 since picking up a calf injury in the IPL in April this year, gave Dolphins hope with a 44-run stand.
But from the moment van Wyk fell for 41, Dolphins lost six wickets for 13 runs, with von Berg cutting through the middle order. Dala then returned to take care of the tail as Dolphins were restricted to 127 for 8. Pietersen scored 24 as only four Dolphins batsmen reached double figures and suffered their second loss in three matches.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo