Dubai [UAE], February 8 : Gulf Giants, through an exhibition of superb teamwork and resilience, fought tooth and nail to defend a meagre total of 126 for 9 in 20 overs and pull off a 19-run win over Dubai Capitals in the 24th match of the ILT20 season 2 at the Dubai International Stadium.
This was the lowest total defended in the history of this tournament.
UAE’s 18-year-old left-arm spinner Aayan Afzal Khan bagged two wickets at a crucial stage of the match while his skipper James Vince produced two run-outs to derail Capitals’ chase towards the easy target. Dasun Shanaka pushed Capitals closer to the target through an unbeaten 24 but last man Haider Ali became the third batter to fall for a run out. Capitals were thus bowled out for 107 in 18.3 overs.
Capitals’ Olly Stone (4 for 14) and Scott Kuggeleijn (3 for 29) ran through Giants’ batting line-up with a lethal combination of accurate pace and judicious use of slower deliveries to restrict Giants to 126 for 9 in 20 overs. The Gulf Giants were reeling at 17 for 4 at one stage but were lifted out of disaster by skipper Vince (32) and Shimron Hetmyer (34) through a 51-run partnership
Capitals made a mess of the ride towards the target losing both their openers for 30 runs. The first to go was their skipper and opener David Warner for 11 caught by Chris Jordan at mid-off to Jamie Overton, followed by opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz who was caught by Jordan at long-on off Blessing Muzarabani for 15. When Jordan clean bowled Sam Billings for 12 and Gerhard Erasmus too clean bowled Max Holden for 7, the target looked unreachable.
All hopes now rested on Ben Dunk and Sikandar Raza. However, they could add only 19 runs between themselves before Dunk got run out to a direct hit from Vince from cover for 13. Aayan Khan clean bowled Raza for 10 to light up their hopes of a victory. Vince also ran out Kuggeleijn when he raced for a single that was not there.