Heated atmosphere overshadows decider

After plenty of drama and controversy last evening, the ICL finals are poised at 1-1 going in to the decider. A disputed catch led to tension and a rift between the two teams prompted Chris Harris, the Hyderabad Heroes captain and Steve Rixon, the coach, to murmur about the spirit of cricket in the post-match conference, which no one from the Lahore Badshahs attended. The dug outs exchanged angry words and the third final could be played in an edgy atmosphere with more than just the trophy at stake.
Hyderabad stopped the Lahore juggernaut with disciplined bowling on a slow wicket. The batting promised much with Jimmy Maher setting the tempo with a breezy 31-ball 56 but they sleepwalked through the middle overs. Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Nazir brought Lahore back in to the game and it seemed they got one hand on the trophy when they restricted Hyderabad to 158. However, they couldn't find any momentum with the bat and the usually free-flowing openers, Imran Nazir and Imran Farhat, struggled to get going and the virus spread to the middle order.
Batting certainly won't get any easier on a pitch which has gotten slower and the spinners will have a bigger role to play. That said, it's up to the batsmen to pile on a score of at least 170 to feel safe.