Sharma, Vince top the charts as the ADKR pick their second defeat in ILT20:
The 3rd match of the maiden season of the International League, between Abu Dhabi Knight Riders and Gulf Giants, kicked off at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, the strip of which had a little green on it. Both captains, James Vince and Sunil Narine, walked out for the toss which was won by Abu Dhabi Knight Rider’s captain who opted to bat first.
Richard Gleeson took the ball to deliver the first over with Paul Stirling waiting on the other end. A double off the 4th ball got the Giants off the mark which was followed by a boundary to bring the scoring rate to a run-a-ball. Sanchit Sharma shared the ball and helped Colin Ingram get off the mark by enduring a straight-ish boundary from his blade. David Wiese came to deliver the third and contributed to stopping the flow. Sharma in his next over drew the first blood by bowling Ingram out with a slightly slower one. In walked Brandon King after the Knight Riders’ first fell at 14 runs only. Gleeson came in again and Stirling punished his full toss for a four over the mid-wicket.
The 6th over brought drama as Sharma ran into bowl with King on strike. His length delivery was miscued by King who landed it straight in the hands of Chris Jordan standing at mid-off. Another one bit the dust and departed, creating more problems for the team. The wicket-keeper batter Connor Esterhuizen strode in next but was sent back on a duck by Sharma the very next ball, making the stands erupt. 2 in 2 for Sharma and Knight Riders had to take a nosedive.
Akeal Hosein was in at the next position and left the ball to deny Sharma a hat-trick. Powerplay ended with this happening over and Knight riders stood at 25 with 3 wickets already down. Chris Jordan was sent in by the skipper but was welcomed with a boundary by Stirling. Liam Dawson was sent to bowl next as the first spinner of the day and he was quick to get a timber to his name. While bowling to the set batsman, Paul Stirling, he delivered a length ball and Stirling tried to thump it but failed to middle the ball and so the ball ended up in the Skipper Vince’s hands at extra cover.
Andre Russel came in now and another spinner Rehan Ahmed took the charge from the other end. Andre blasted Rehan’s delivery for a gigantic six. Dawson in the next over was not spared either as Andre pumped his ball for a six over long on. 10 overs ended and thanks to two maximums the scoreboard now read 55/4 while the runs were flowing at five and a half.
Rehan made amends in the next over by hitting Hosein’s pad which was followed by a huge appeal and raising of finger by the Umpire. Even DRS failed to save Hosein and he had to take a walk back. 5th fell for the ADKR and in walked the captain Narine to join his Jamaican fellow in the middle.
Chris Jordan was recalled to bowl again and a flurry of fours from Russell’s bat was followed by a peach of a delivery from Jordan to make the Trinidadian batter pay for the disrespect. A yorker by Jordan rattled the off stump behind him and he had to go back to the pavilion as well. Zawar Farid came in next with the captain while Rehan took the ball in the next over. The prodigy was hit for another 6, this time, by Narine. Rehan’s chance to get Farid’s wicket in the same over was wasted as the Umpire did not look impressed and the replay showed Umpire’s call on the impact.
Wiese made a return after bowling one over and removed the skipper Narine after Gerhard Erasmus arrested his ball standing at long off. Ali Khan came in as the 7th fell for the Narine-led men. A few silent overs later, in which the Knight Riders kept on rotating the strike while Rehan’s balls lost some discipline too, Jordan made a return again and on the very first ball dismissed Ali Khan. Ravi Rampaul came in his place while Zawar Farid ended the 34 ball long boundary famine with a midwicket six. Gleeson came to bowl the penultimate over and Farid gifted him a boundary through extra cover. The ball in the final over was handed to Chris Jordan who sent Zawar Farid back while also bowling some extras. The continuously falling wickets made the extras feel very naive as the scoreboard had a sorry total of 114 runs on it after the 20th over ended.
GULF GIANT’S BATTING:
The young Rehan Ahmed came to open alongside the captain James Vince and Rampaul bowled a decent over before handing the ball to the spinner Akeal Hosein at the other end. Ahmed struck him for a four to end his over.
With Vince at strike in the next over, Rampaul, who was continuing, was rapped for two back to back fours. Rampaul quickly made corrections and delivered a back of a length ball to Rehan who tried to hit the ball but a top edge sent the ball flying to Brandon King. 1st wicket fell for the Giants and Ollie Pope entered the Arena.
Matiullah Khan joined the attack and bowled a somewhat calm over but Rampaul in the next over leaked 17 runs by conceding two boundaries and a maximum by the club of the Giants’ Skipper. Ollie Pope also strode down his captain’s lane and sent two of Matiullah’s balls running towards the boundary. The power play ended and the Giants had already added 50 runs to their kitty. Asking rate was 4.6 while Vince-led men were swinging the bat at 8.33.
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Ali Khan came to bowl his first over and was a tad decent. Narine’s next over also saw only 2 runs being added to the tally. However, all this conservation went down the drain in the over of Akeal Hosein where his two back to back balls were slapped for maximums by James Vince. Taking a single on the next ball, the Skipper reached his fifty while his team was only 42 runs away from the win.
Narine and Ali Khan continued to control the runs. In the penultimate over of his spell, Narine was shot by his opposition counterpart for a six but he retaliated quickly bowling him out just a ball later. Captain’s innings ended at 65 runs but the damage his bat did was beyond repair now. Gerhard Erasmus walked in next.
Narine ended his over by handing Pope a return ticket as well after his ball snuck through the batter’s pad and bat and landed on the stumps behind.
Shimron Hetmyer came to join Erasmus, who went back in after succumbing to Akeal Hosein and the keeper Esterhuizen’s collective efforts of stumping him. David Wiese walked out after his team lost three quick wickets. A few strike rotations in the next couple of overs lessened the deficit and Giants were only 8 runs away from their first victory while Knight Riders still needed to strike 6 wickets to avoid their second defeat. Hetmyer quickly wrapped up things by hitting a cow corner six to Hosein, thus leveling the scores. An easy single ended the match and Gulf Giants soared away with the victory.
