Piyush Chawla’s four-fer (4 for 27) helped the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders defeat the Gulf Giants by four wickets in Abu Dhabi, their second straight ILT20 victory and third overall. With 72 off 45, Rahmanullah Gurbaz led the Giants in scoring, but it was in vain as ADKR won thanks to a team effort.
After the Giants were put in to bat, Gurbaz got off to a clean start, dismissing Jason Holder for two fours and a six in the first two overs. With a flick over the longer boundary for six, Pathum Nissanka looked ominous, but he was dismissed by Olly Stone’s opening delivery. After executing a stunning cover-drive, Giants captain James Vince punched the fence with his rear foot. With a six off Stone that just cleared long-on, Gurbaz scored 6000 T20 runs.
Then, with a googly that only reached short-third man, Piyush Chawla tricked Mooen Ali.
In the seventh over, Piyush Chawla joined the assault and took Vince out with a gold first ball, while Sunil Narine continued to press in some quiet overs. In the following over, Gurbaz managed to hold off the leggie and reach fifty as the Giants reached the hundred mark in the eleventh over. With some flat-batted strokes, Gurbaz kept having fun against Stone. However, in the following over, Ajay Kumar’s slower ball was hammered straight by the Afghan to deep mid-wicket.
After that, Piyush Chawla caught Matthew Forde and Azmatullah Omarzai in consecutive balls as the Giants collapsed to 135 for 6 after 16 overs. The Giants finished at 165 for 7 after only scoring 33 runs in the final five overs due to their inability to find the perfect finish at the end due to their frequent wicket losses.
Phil Salt and Alex Hales responded with all of their might. The former took Fred Klaasen for 17 runs in his third over after scoring two consecutive boundaries off the first two deliveries. Before adding a few more to put ADKR at 53/0 at the end of the PowerPlay, Hales hit his maiden boundary in the fourth over, a slap through covers to the fence.
Aayan Khan was given a six by Hales, but Tabraiz Shamsi picked up the dangerous Salt to give the Giants a counterattack. After that, he got rid of Liam Livingstone in the following over as the Giants tried to rally for a victory. As Hales was consistently hitting boundaries at one end, Sherfane Rutherford faced Moeen and went 4,6,6 in the 14th over, which had 16 runs. However, ADKR was 138 for 5 after 17 overs, which was almost where the Giants were at the same point, as three wickets fell in three overs, including those of Hales and Rutherford. But to guarantee that the outcome was certain, Andre Russell hammered two enormous sixes to end the chase.
India
