Abu Dhabi (Aletihad)
Delhi Bulls produced yet another superlative allround show to down Bangla Tigers by seven wickets in the 13th match of the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. They strangled Bangla Tigers’ run flow through a fine spell of three wickets for four runs by Richard Gleeson backed by Fazalhaq Farooq’s (2 for 15). In the ten overs, Bangla Tigers could muster only 81 for 7.
Delhi Bulls raced to the target in just six overs through skipper Rovman Powell’s unbeaten 37 off 11 balls with four sixes and two boundaries, and Rilee Rossouw’s unbeaten 21 off 11 balls with one boundary and a six. Delhi thus recorded their third consecutive win in three matches.
Delhi won the toss and elected to field. Bangla Tigers lost their opener Chris Lynn to the third ball of the first over while playing across to Fazalhaq Farooqi and getting clean bowled for a duck. One-drop Kusal Mendis lasted just four balls to score six runs before being bowled to the third ball of the second over from Naveen Ul Haq. He attempted to play a sweep short and missed.
Opener Jordan Cox hit Muhammad Rohid for a boundary through the extra cover off the first ball of the third over. He also hit a six off the third ball to deep mid-wicket and picked another boundary hitting over mid-off. Eighteen runs came off that over.
David Miller lasted only five balls to score two runs before hitting to Dwayne Bravo at extra cover off Richard Gleeson. This was followed by Gleeson removing Dasun Shanaka caught by Usman Khan at point for a duck off the third ball as well as Cox for 19, clean bowled with the fifth delivery while attempting a big shot. That over yielded only two runs and three wickets.
Fazalhaq, who was re-introduced for the fifth over, had Benny Howell caught by Usman at deep mid-wicket. It was a brilliant run and a diving catch.
Bangla Tigers, at the half way mark, were tottering at 38 for 6. Veteran Bravo bowled a tight sixth over giving away just five runs and Naveen Ul Haq, who bowled the seventh over, yielded just four runs. Gleeson too strangled the run flow giving away just three runs in the eighth. It was a treat to watch aggressive batsmen like Carlos Brathwaite and Daniel Sams being kept under check.
Bangla Tigers reached the 50 runs mark only off the last ball of the eighth over. Brathwaite hit Bravo for a boundary and a six off the third and fourth delivery of the ninth over. He also edged Bravo past the keeper and slip for another boundary but fell when he was brilliantly caught by Usman Khan at deep mid-wicket for 21. It was Usman’s third catch of the innings.
Sams hit the second and third ball of the last over for sixes – the first over mid-wicket and next over long-on. Sams remained unbeaten on 20 to ensure a total of 81 for 7.
The chase began with Bangla Tigers picking the valuable wicket of Quinton de Kock with the fourth ball of the first over, brilliantly caught by Cox at covers off Josh Little. Johnson Charles fell to Brathwaite in the second over, clean bowled for 1 while attempting a flick.
James Vince hit Little for a six and a boundary off the third and fourth deliveries of the third over. Little got Vince out with the last ball of that over by having him caught by Rohan Mustafa at backward square leg for 17.
Rilee Rossouw flicked Drakes for a six off the first ball of the fourth over. Powell played a spectacular cover drive off Sams for a boundary. He also hit Sams over mid-wicket for a six. At the end of the fifth over, Delhi needed 33 runs from the remaining five overs.
Powell hit Benny Howell for three consecutive sixes – two to long-off and another to long-on to speed up the race to the target. Rossouw hit the last ball of that over for a boundary to take 29 runs off that over.
Powell hit the victory run smashing Abdul Ghaffar to third man to record an emphatic win and remain unbeaten on 37 and put on an unbeaten 61 runs partnership in 20 balls for the fourth wicket with Rossouw (21 n.o).
Brief scores:
Delhi Bulls bt Bangla Tigers by 7 wkts. Bangla Tigers 81 for 7 in 10 overs (Daniel Sams 20 n.o, Carlos Brathwaite 21, Fazalhaq Farooqi 2 for 15, Richard Gleeson 3 for 4)
Delhi Bulls 83 for 3 in 6 overs. (Rilee Rossouw 21 n.o, Rovman Powell 37n.o, Josh Little 2 for 19)
Player of the Match: Richard Gleeson
Earlier, Deccan Gladiators handed Team Abu Dhabi a fourth consecutive defeat, a 63-run victory for the defending champions leaving the hopes of the host team making the play-offs hanging by a thread.
Riding on quick knocks from Andre Fletcher (41), Nicholas Pooran (30) and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (35), Gladiators posted 141 for 6 in 10 overs.
Team Abu Dhabi could muster only 78 for 5 in 10 overs and crashed to their fourth defeat in four matches. Leus du Plooy (25) and Colin Ingram (19) put on a 41-run partnership for the fourth wicket to give some respect to their total.
Brief scores:
Decccan Gladiators bt Team Abu Dhabi by 63 runs. Deccan Gladiators 141 for 6 in 10 overs (Nicholas Pooran 30, Tom Kohler-Cadmore 35, Andre Fletcher 41, Rumman Raees 2 for 15, Tymal Mills 2 for 13) Team Abu Dhabi 78 for 5 in 10 overs (Leus du Plooy 25, Nuwan Thushara 2 for 5)
Player of the Match: Andre Fletcher
Chennai Braves chased down Northern Warriors in a tense battle for a five-wicket win with two balls to spare after restricting the rivals to 106 for 3.
The architects of their victory were Sikandar Raza who hit 27 off 10 balls and skipper Charaith Asalanka, who remained unbeaten on 22 off 16 balls. Stephen Eskinazi too had chipped in with 22 runs. Northern Warriors’s opener Hazratullah Zazai’s brilliant knock of 54 off 32 balls with seven boundaries and a six went in vain.
Brief scores:
Chennai Braves bt Northern Warriors by 5 wkts. Northern Warriors 106 for 3 in 10 overs (Hazratullah Zazai 54, Adam Hose 24 n.o, Mohammad Nabi 2 for 11) Chennai Braves 107 for 5 in 9.4 overs (Stephen Eskinazi 22, Charith Aslanaka 22 n.o, Sikandar Raza 27, Abhimanyu Mithun 2 for 11)
Player of the Match: Sikandar Raza
Match Day 5 ✅@DelhiBullsT10 maintain pole position as they extend their unbeaten run 🙌#ADT10 #CricketsFastestFormat #AbuDhabiT10 #InAbuDhabi #UAENationalDay pic.twitter.com/VrudSfueE3
— T10 Global (@T10League) December 2, 2023