Help for Heroes charity match review - MS Dhoni stars for the Heroes

Published - 18 Sept 2015, 12:23 IST | Updated - 18 Sept 2015, 12:23 IST

4 Min Read

Help for Heroes charity match review – MS Dhoni stars for the Heroes: Something out of the box is always appreciated and well crunched in every niche. And so was the charity match between Help for Heroes XI v Rest of the World XI. Brendon McCullum led Rest of the World side opted to bat first after winning the toss at The Oval. For the Rest of World team, the former Australian superstar opening batsman, Mathew Hayden and the former South African skipper, Graeme Smith opened the innings. And for the Heroes, it was the former English speedster, Darren Gough who started the proceedings.

Hayden and Smith went off for a blast. In his second over Gough, dislodged Graeme Smith’s middle stump and Rest of the World lost their first wicket at the score of 15. Then came in the Caribbean king, the former blistering batsman, Brian Charles Lara. The partnership was proceeding well and Hayden was looking solid at the crease. He steered the Rest of World innings and when they were evenly poised at 67/2 in the 10^th over, Hayden was dismissed at the score of 34 runs and Lara soon followed him back to the pavilion.

Mahela Jayawardene came at the crease next and scored 48 runs off just 28 deliveries with 5 fours and a six. Jayawardene did not get much of a support from the other end as McCullum and Styris could not capitalize over the Help for Heroes bowling. Thus, Mahela led the batting of Rest of World innings at the death overs and helped them set up a defendable total of 158/6 at the end of 20 overs. For the heroes, it was Mjr Green who bagged 3/36 in his 4 overs and stood as the highest wicket taker.

Also Read – Watch: Help for Heroes charity match highlights

Defending a total of 158 runs was going to be a daunting task especially when you have Virender Sehwag opening the innings for the opposition. In fact, Sehwag and Strauss gave Help for Heroes XI a blistering start. It was a kind of nightmare for the Rest of the World bowlers in the likes of Tim Southee and Shapoor Zadran. Sehwag scored 30 runs off 25 deliveries with the help of 4 fours, while on the other hand, Strauss struck an equally smashing innings of 26 runs off 17 deliveries.

In fact, Help for Heroes reached to 64 at 6.2 overs when their first wicket in the form of Andrew Strauss fell. The veteran Kiwi all rounder, Scotty Styris provided Rest of the World with the much needed breakthrough. And to capitalize onto the situation, the former left arm spinner, Daniel Vettori dismantled Sehwag’s stumps to sneak in the second breakthrough. Suddenly things started to look in a slight spot of bother for the Heroes XI with 67/2 in the eighth over. However, things worsened for them when the middle order of Heroes suffered a collapse. Damien Martyn and Herschelle Gibbs were dismissed in quick successions. Heroes were down to 81/4 in the 11^th over.

Then came in the show time for one of the greatest finishers of modern day cricket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Slowly Dhoni held grip over the game and the opposition bowling. And with his signature calmness, he took calculated risks to march his to the target. Major Storm Green and David Malan assisted Dhoni well in the chase and their swift cameos made things easier for the Indian captain.

Finally, as it happened, with a four from Dhoni, Help for Heroes XI won the match by a margin of 4 wickets. Dhoni remained unbeaten at the score of 38 runs off 22 deliveries with 4 fours and a six. Daniel Vettori picked up 3 wickets but ultimately it went on the losing cause.

The crowd at The Oval thus witnessed a day of jam packed cricketing actions mingled with sheer entertainment.