Warne's Warriors register another win against Sachin's Blasters
Opting to bowl first, Sachin's Blasters conceded a mammoth 262 runs in 20 overs as the Warriors' batsmen piled on the agony, led by Sri Lankan great Kumara Sangakkara.
Sanga who could make the greatest of bowlers toil in his hay day, hit half a dozen fours and sixes to display some scintillating form in his innings of 70 runs that came from just 30 deliveries.
Providing crucial support to Sangakkara was Aussie Ricky Ponting and and former Proteas all-rounder Jacques Kallis.
After a strong start by England's Michael Vaughn and Australia's Matthew Hayden in which they scored 51 runs inside 5.4 overs, it was Kallis who plundered 45 runs off just 23 runs with the help of 3 boundaries and 4 over-boundaries.
Punter, after a delightful knock in the previous game, continued his rich vein of form as he scored 41 off just 16 balls. His authoritative innings consisted of 5 fours and 3 sixes.
With some useful contributions down the order from Jonty Rhodes and Andrew Symonds, the Warriors were able to push their score past the 250-run mark.
The Blasters' bowlers looked hapless as they were take to the cleaners. Shoaib Akhtar, who picked up 2 wickets in the previous game while bowling a tight spell, gave away 48 runs in his quota of 4 overs, while returning empty handed.
Glenn McGrath picked up a wicket, giving away 28 runs in 2 overs.
Lance Klusener (2), Virender Sehwag (1) and Graeme Swann (1) were the others who accounted for the remaining scalps.
The Blasters in their run chase lost Sehwag (16) early. The crowd was in for a special treat when no 3 Sourav Ganguly walked in next and joined his long time friend Sachin Tendulkar.
The duo added 23 runs before Sourav was sent back to the pavilion by Kallis for 12 runs.
Sachin scored a brisk 33 off 20 deliveries, Lara (19) and Klusener (21) too contributed to the chase, but the real impetus came from Shaun Pollock, who with the help of 7 maximums score 55 of 22 deliveries.
Swann tried to up the ante by adding 22 of 8 balls but it proved inadequate as his team lost by 57 runs, having managed only 205 for the loss of 8 wickets.
For the Warriors, Andrew Symonds picked by 4 wickets, followed by 2 by Saqlain Mushtaq and 1 each by Ajit Agarkar and Jacques Kallis.
Sanga was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match for his stormy innings.
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