Lucknow, Sep 20 (PTI) 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.

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But Parthiv (34 from 17 balls; 6x4s, 1x6) 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).

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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.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)