Gulf Giants taste their first defeat of the tournament, Warriors triumph in Dubai:
As the tournament is growing old, teams from the bottom are exhibiting exhilarating shows, pulling more attention to the event in the process. The Gulf Giants and Sharjah Warriors face-off took place in Dubai in what was the 14th match of the tournament. Unbeaten Giants, in their everso gleaming splendor, opted to bowl first against the Sharjah Warriors, who as of then had only tasted victory once in the tourney.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Tom Kohler-Cadmore walked out to open the innings with the bat and Richard Gleeson greeted them with a new ball in his hands. Sanchit Sharma shared the ball with him but it was David Wiese in the third over who drew the first blood and gave Warriors an early blow. Rahmanullah’s mistimed shot went up high in the air and on its return landed in Chris Lynn’s hands, sending the Afghan opener back to the pavilion. In walked Dawid Malan to join his country-fellow. TKC struck Wiese for the first six of the innings in the same over.
Tom showered more sixes in the next over when Sharma returned. Two back to back sixes in that over surged the run rate to 8.75 RPO. Wiese, too, was quietened by TKC’s thrashing in the next one. However, Gleeson brought glad tidings for his team after he forced Cadmore to make a mistake. TKC gloved the ball which was going down the leg, giving Tom Banton a golden chance to catch him and end his assault.
In strode Moeen Ali but Malan decided to return as well, giving Sharma his first timber of the day. Joe Denly, it was, who walked in next at the point when Warriors were in deep trouble. A couple of silent overs later, Denly ended his hibernation and danced down the track to send Rehan for a six. 2 maximums later, which came in next two overs, Moeen Ali became victim of Rehan Ahmed’s googly. Moeen, who miscued the ball, erred in his timing to hit the ball and was caught by Hetmyer at deep square.
11 overs ended and Warriors stood at 87/4. Mohammad Nabi trod in next and it took SW 13 overs to reach hundred. Denly and Nabi started slowly getting into action by hitting sixes and fours here and there. However, the Giants still looked in control. Soon, Nabi’s stay was ended as well after Jordan’s ball edged his bat and Banton got hold of it. Chris Woakes’ arrival announced the beginning of tail. Boundaries dried up but singles and doubles kept on coming, thus helping warriors to reach a decent total of 151 by the end of 20 overs.
GULF GIANTS’ BATTING:
Giants kept Warriors restricted throughout the first innings, although the Moeen Ali-led did show some resistance and scored a respectable total but the game was still pretty much evenly poised. Now was the turn for the Giants to show their heroics with the bat. James Vince, the skipper, came out with the prodigy Rehan Ahmed while another of their English fellow, Chris Woakes, took the charge of the ball.
Woakes got the first timber after Rehan’s frustration and agitation got the better of him and he had to return early to the dressing room. Chris Lynn came out next and opened his accounts with a four towards mid-on. To share the ball, Naveen ul Haq was called into the attack by the captain and he did not have to wait long for his first success. Naveen got the big big wicket of James Vince after an edge off his bat was caught by TKC. Tom Banton came in next and Naveen ul Haq’s wayward deliveries in the same over cost Warriors 7 extra runs.
Woakes’ second over ended which was the first wicketless over bowled by the Warriors in the innings. Junaid Siddique was asked to bowl the 4th over and he continued the wicket taking streak of his team by showing Banton the way back. Aayan Afzal Khan, it was, who walked towards the ground to bat next but Woakes was too good for him. Four brilliant deliveries later he finally ended Aayan’s short stay on the crease with an absolute Jaffa. The Warriors’ bowlers were ravaging through the Giants’ lineup like a hot knife through butter. Shimron Hetmyer came in at no. 5 and Junaid Siddique bowled a delivery with his name on it, in the next over. By the time power play ended, half of the Giants’ batters were ousted. Liam Dawson joined Chris Lynn in the middle. Chris Woakes ended his last over with deliveries as beautiful as they get. 7 overs ended and Giants were at 30/5.
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Dawson had to return back soon as well after Naveen ul Haq’s short ball made Dawson play an unintentional shot. David Wiese walked in and the collapse of the Giants did not look like it would end anytime soon. Wiese, however, held his nerves and protected his wickets while also adding runs to the pitiful tally. Giants, thanks to Wiese’s bravery, were at 71/6 after the end of 12 overs. In the next over, Noor Ahmad dismissed Chris Lynn with help of Woakes’ reverse cup catch.
In walked Chris Jordan to chip in his contributions in rescuing Giants from a miserable defeat. Wiese was thrashing bowlers for boundaries every now and then, which was keeping the run rate alive but it was Naveen ul Haq again who hunted him down. Woakes caught Wiese at long-off after he failed to tackle the bouncy short ball. Sanchit Sharma and Chris Jordan were on the strike now and two back to back fours by Jordan helped his team cross the 100 runs barrier.
Some decent overs by Muhammad Jawadullah and Junaid Siddique later, Naveen ul Haq returned to bowl the last over of the day, with Giants 34 runs away from the victory.
Jordan began the over with two back to back long-off sixes off Naveen, thus bringing down the required score to only 22 in 4 balls. However, Naveen made amends as on the next ball he sent Jordan back to his camp, ruining all of the Giants’ near naive hopes to win the game from here. Richard Gleeson came in as the last man and Naveen wrapped things up by making his slow ball collide with the off stump behind Gleeson. The demolished timber heralded the victory of Warriors and first defeat of the Giants.
