AHMEDABAD: Darren Bravo and Evin Lewis starred for Trinidad and Tobago as they defeated Titans by six runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-affected Group B match of the Champions League Twenty20 at the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad on Monday, thereby boosting their prospects of a place in the semifinal.

T&T seemed to have the upper hand once they put up 188 for 6 on the board batting first. But if they had expected a walk in the park, they were in for a surprise as the Titans put up a strong fight. The Titans had reached 153 for 6 in 17 overs, with AB de Villiers still at the crease, needing 36 for victory in three overs when the rains arrived to ruin their chances. With 159 being the par score at that stage, T&T were declared winners by six runs when the umpires called play off at 7.36 pm.

A second-wicket partnership of 109 between Lewis and Bravo helped T&T overcome the second-over dismissal of Lendl Simmons, and a late cameo by Navin Stewart boosted their tally further. T&T got off to a blistering start after being asked to bat under slightly overcast conditions. Simmons fell early in somewhat unfortunate circumstances when Marchant de Lange bowled him with one that rolled along the ground after hitting his pad. But Lewis and Bravo fired the imagination of the sizeable crowd with an attractive display of power hitting. The duo added 109 in just 64 balls before Lewis was undone by a Roelof van der Merwe full toss in the 13th over.

Lewis, with scores of 19 and 22 in his previous outings, was the first off the blocks, lofting a well-timed boundary over extra cover and two towering sixes off Morne Morkel in the third over. Morkel, who had started the proceedings with a maiden over, went for 17 in that over. Bravo too joined the party, pinning de Lange for three boundaries in the next over. The duo was rarely quiet thereafter.

Good shots and edges existed in equal measure in Lewis’s effort as he brought up his half-century, laced with five boundaries and four sixes, in just 21 balls. David Wiese and van der Merwe hurried through with a few quiet overs, before Bravo slammed one over cover and followed it up with a neat boundary. When Lewis fell, after a 35-ball 70, he had given T&T the base they needed. Thereafter, Bravo upped the ante, racing toward his half-century by slog-sweeping van der Merwe delivery over long-on.

The Titans’ tactics seemed to revolve around the short ball, but apart from de Lange, who bagged three wickets while conceding 38 runs, they failed to execute their plans to perfection.

The Titans knew that they had to come out blazing, and they did so. Jacques Rudolph and Henry Davids, the captain, put on 65 for the first wicket, but Rayad Emrit effected a breakthrough by getting rid of Davids with a yorker.

The T&T bowlers then exerted sustained pressure and three quick wickets dented the Titans’ chase badly. Simmons, who had been dismissed for nought, came good with the ball as he grabbed two wickets in consecutive deliveries to dismiss Rudolph and van der Merwe. de Villiers, who came in at No. 5, did help stabilize the innings alongside Farhaan Behardien. They added 49 runs in 4.5 overs before a double-strike from Sunil Narine set the Titans back. Narine accounted for Behardien and Wiese within three deliveries but de Villiers, unfazed by the fall of wickets, had made 23 off 13 balls before a heavy downpour ended the innings with three overs remaining.

With eight points against their name and a game in hand, T&T will fancy their semifinal chances while the Titans finished their league engagements with eight points and an inferior run rate to T&T.

Hyderabad crashes out after washout

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s hopes of forcing a win against Brisbane Heat and keeping alive their slender semifinal qualification chances in the Champions League came to an end after rain forced the match to be abandoned at the Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad on Monday.

Having suffered defeats in their previous three games, Brisbane were already out of the reckoning, while the Shikhar Dhawan-led Hyderabad side could have kept itself in the hunt had it managed a victory in this game. But by virtue of this washout, Hyderabad too have been eliminated from the group stage.

Both teams got two points each, Hyderabad finishing their engagements with six points and Brisbane with two.

The race for the second semifinal spot from the group behind Chennai Super Kings is now between Trinidad & Tobago and Titans. Both teams have eight points but while the Titans have finished their engagements, T&T have a game in hand, against Chennai in New Delhi on October 2. T&T have a better net run rate and can afford a narrow defeat too, but will obviously eye victory to take some momentum with them to the last four. T&T had edged out Titans by six runs on the Duckworth-Lewis method in the day’s first game, also interrupted by the elements.