Abu Dhabi: Bangla Tigers bowled intelligently and batted strongly to outplay defending champions Maratha Arabians by six wickets in the seventh match of the Abu Dhabi T10 on the third day at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium on January 30.
Arabians, despite not losing any wicket, could muster only 103 runs in their ten overs. Mohammad Hafeez’s unbeaten 61 off 30 balls went in vain. Abdul Shakoor played second fiddle with an unbeaten 34 runs. Chasing the target, Tigers lost wickets at regular intervals but scored at a brisk pace and won the match with 12 balls to spare.
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Karim Janath bowled a brilliant tenth over yielding just six runs. Hafeez remained unbeaten on 61 off 30 balls while Shakoor, playing the same number of balls, remained unbeaten on 34. It was a superb bowling effort from Bangla Tigers.
Bangla Tigers openers Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher could get only seven runs from the first over from Yamin Ahmadzai. But in the second over, Charles hit Sompal Kami for a six over deep mid-wicket. He also picked the gap correctly to gain a boundary through a cut shot off Muktar Ali and then hit him for a powerful six over long-on. With the last ball of the over, Ali forced Charles to edge to wicketkeeper Shakoor for 23.
Ahmadzai got Afif out for 22, by which time Bangla Tigers needed only 13 more runs from the last three overs. Suri hit his second six lifting Ishan Malhotra over long-on and got run out for 19. Tom Moores hit the winning boundary off the last ball of the eighth over.
Brief scores: Maratha Arabians 103/0 in 10 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 61*, Abdul Shakoor 34*) lost to Bangla Tigers 105/4 in 8 overs (Johson Charles 23, Andre Fletcher 31, Afif Hossain 22) by six wickets.
Qalandars recorded their second consecutive nine-wicket win in the ninth match of the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium. On the third day, they breezed to a comfortable nine-wicket win over Team Abu Dhabi. This team started their campaign on the second day through a nine-wicket win over Pune Devils. In the match against Team Abu Dhabi, once again they displayed their strong bowling and batting strength to win by nine wickets.
Ever-green Shahid Afridi led the bowling attack by taking two wickets for just 16 runs to walk away the man of the match award. It Qalandars’ tight bowling that restricted Team Abu Dhabi to 100 runs. Chasing the target, Qalandars, through a quick 30 from Tom Banton, an unbeaten 40 from Sharjeel Khan, and an unconquered 27 from skipper Sohail Akhtar, won the match with ten balls to spare.
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Shahid Afridi, who was introduced for the fourth over, gave away nine runs. At the halfway mark, Team Abu Dhabi was 41 for 1. Afridi, who bowled the sixth over, had Ben Duckett caught by Tanvir at deep third man for 15 and also had Stirling caught by Asif Ali at deep mid-wicket for 29.
Chris Jordan bowled the eighth over and was hit by Joe Clark for a six to square leg and two exquisite drives to the cover boundary. Clark did not spare Sohail Tanvir too, who bowled the next over. He hit him for a six to deep mid-wicket and also picked a boundary behind square leg.
Jordan ended Clarke’s innings with the second ball of the last over by trapping him leg before for 34. Najibullah Zadran then smashed Jordan over long-on for a six to help Team Abu Dhabi reach the 100 run mark before he was run out off the last ball.
Sohail Akhtar joined opener Sharjeel Khan and maintained the run flow well. Akhtar started with two consecutive boundaries off Obed McCoy. Sharjeel too picked the right balls to keep the scoreboard moving at a brisk pace. He helped Qalandars reach their target by hitting Shinwari for two successive boundaries off the first two balls of the ninth over.
Brief scores: Team Abu Dhabi 100/5 in 10 overs (Paul Stirling 29, Joe Clarke 34, Shahid Afridi 2/16) lost to Qalandars 104/1 in 8 overs (Tom Banton 30, Sharjeel Khan 40*, Sohail Akhtar 27*) by nine wickets.
Nicholas Pooran’s breezy half-century and Wayne Parnell’s hat-trick helped Northern Warriors march past Delhi Bulls with a 32 runs victory in the ninth match of the Abu Dhabi T10 on the third day at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Warriors posted the highest total of this season when Nicholas Pooran hit a quick 54 off 21 balls with five sixes and five boundaries. Rovman Powell and Fabian Allen maintained the momentum with unbeaten knocks of 24 and 28 runs respectively to boost the total. Delhi chased the mammoth score through Ravi Bopara hitting a quick 36 off 15 balls with four sixes and two boundaries. But Parnell put the breaks on Delhi through a hat-trick spell in the ninth over. It was the fourth hat-trick in this tournament’s history.
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Fidel Edwards, who bowled the next over, wavered in his line and length and also bowled no balls to help King and Pooran notch 20 runs off that over. King fell to the first ball of the sixth over when Ali Khan had him caught by Ravi Bopara at long on for 18. Pooran smashed the next ball for a boundary through the covers and followed it by hitting two sixes.
Skipper Dwayne Bravo introduced himself in the eighth over and had Pooran out, caught by Bopara at backward point for 54. Next man Fabian Allen picked three consecutive boundaries off Bravo. Rovman Powell and Allen kept picking boundaries to steer the total past the 100 run mark in 8.3 overs. Edwards was hit for 22 runs in his ninth over.
With 85 runs to get from the last five over, Northern Warriors introduced South African pacer Wayne Parnell into the attack. Bopara hit Parnell for a six over mid-wicket. Emrit struck again in the seventh over to have Lyth caught at mid-wicket for 13.
When Bopara too fell in the eight over to Lakshan when he hit high to Siddiqui at short fine leg, Delhi’s hopes soon began to fade. Parnell clean bowled Sherfane Rutherford and Dwayne Bravo in successive balls and completed his hat-trick when he trapped Ali Khan leg before. Ultimately Delhi could muster only 105 for 7 in their ten overs.
Brief scores: Northern Warriors 137/3 in 10 overs (Nicholas Pooran 54, Rovman Powell 24*, Fabian Allen 28*) beat Delhi Bulls 105/7 in 10 overs (Ravi Bopara 36, Rayad Emrit 2/25, Wayne Parnell 3/15) by 32 runs.
