Skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq struck an unbeaten 44 as Hyderabad Heroes halted the winning run of Chennai Superstars by registering a six wicket victory in a Twenty20 match of the Indian Cricket League's in Panchkula on Sunday.
Inzamam, who needed just 27 balls in his innings, and compatriot Abdul Razzaq who struck an unbeaten 40 in 20 balls including three sixes, made the highest run chase of this tournament look easy.
Chasing 163, the Pakistani pair weaved a partnership of 79 runs for the fourth wicket and the Heroes reached home with 13 balls to spare.
Superstars' R Satish came in for some heavy punishment giving away 27 runs in his second over.
Heroes opener Anirudh Singh (31) batted well and Ambati Rayudu (28) also made a useful contribution.
Thiru Kumaran, who took six wickets in an earlier ICL match, failed to weave his magic again and gave away 22 runs in two overs.
Heroes are now placed fourth in the points table. They have won two of their four matches so far thus keeping their hopes of reaching the semi-finals alive.
The Superstars had already secured their spot in the final four with three successive wins in their earlier matches.
Put in to bat, Superstars' Australian pair of Ian Harvey (63) and Stuart Law (44) had a partnership of 85 runs for the third wicket.
Harvey, who has been in good form in this tournament, remained unbeaten but was lucky to survive when a yorker from Azhar Mahmood dislodged his bail, which again settled back into position.
After Russel Arnold's run out for a duck, it was Hemang Badani who hit three sixes in his quickfire knock of 31 coming off just 13 balls.
