Muhammad Waseem’s blistering 44-ball 86 helps MI Emirates clinch biggest win of ILT20 history:
MI Emirates and Desert Vipers met for the second time in the tournament to face-off in what would have been a down the wire contest, however, some forgettables for the Vipers turned it into a one-sided match. Interestingly, the last time the Emirates played a non rain-truncated match was against the Vipers. The DV on the other hand have come to Sharjah after triumphing over Dubai Capitals last night. The game started with both captains, Kieron Pollard and Colin Munro, walking out for the toss. Munro won the toss as the coin fell as tails after Pollard called heads and so the Vipers’ captain was asked to make a decision. Like most of the toss winning captains so far in the competition, Munro decided to bowl first.
Out came Andre Fletcher and Muhammad Waseem to get things under way for the Emirates with the bat while Luke Wood took the new ball. Mark Watt, the new inclusion in the team, shared the ball. Two mistakes by both Watt and Wood in the next two overs, where the former wasted a review and the latter dropped a return catch, gave MIE a dominating start.
This paired with the killer mindset Waseem came to the crease with and sloppy deliveries by the Vipers surged the run rate to 11.33 by the end of the powerplay. Waseem soon reached his half century and the thrashing was nowhere near an end. Both Fletcher and Waseem were shooting everyone who came their way for sixes and fours. It was in the 13th over when the first wicket fell. Pathirana, it was who drew the first blood of the day, though very late. Treading down the same street in an even better way, Tom Curran grabbed two wickets in his next over, ending Waseem’s assault. Dan Mousley marched in next to join the skipper in the middle and just when the Vipers thought the onslaught was over, Mousley and Pollard’s bats started smoking fire. Pollard who had 11 runs next to his name on 9 balls, completed his 50 in the next 10 balls. The first innings ended with Emirates putting the highest total on the scoreboard of the ILT20 so far which is 241.
DESERT VIPERS’ BATTING:
To chase down the humongous target of 242 runs, Rohan Mustafa and Alex Hales entered the ground while Trent Boult welcomed them with the new ball in his hands. With Alex Hales on crease the hopes of Vipers to win the game kept breathing but not for long. The Vipers’ first wicket fell in the second over when Rohan Mustafa became the victim of Fazalhaq Farooqi’s first delivery. After him, the wickets started falling like a house of cards. So much so that by the time the power play ended, 6 Vipers’ wickets had fallen thanks to Boult, Farooqi and Zahoor Khan’s magical deliveries.
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Wickets even after the powerplay kept coming regularly. The falling lineup of the Vipers could only take the match to the 13th over, on the first delivery of which the last timber of the table-toppers fell. Emirates trounced the Vipers completely by handing them a 157 runs defeat. Although the defeat did not hurt the top position of the Munro-led team, their NRR received a huge blow.
