On the back of a three-wicket haul from Dwayne Bravo, the MI Emirates condemned the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders to their eighth defeat in nine games in the DP World IL T20 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
The Emirates first posted 180-4 from their 20 overs after the Knight Riders won the toss and elected to field first.
The UAE’s Muhammad Waseem top scored with a 43-ball 60 including one four and six sixes while captain Kieron Pollard continued his excellent form throughout the season with 43 off just 17 deliveries including four fours and three sixes.
The Knight Riders reply fell short by 18 runs despite a top score of 42 from 22 balls from Andre Russell. His knock included five fours and two sixes.
Dwayne Bravo took 3-37 from his four overs while Imran Tahir and Zahoor Khan took two wickets each.
The Emirates have now booked a spot in the playoffs with a game to spare in the league phase.
Scores: MI Emirates 180-4 off 20 overs (Muhammad Waseem 60, Kieron Pollard 43) Abu Dhabi Knight Riders 162 off 19.2 overs (Andre Russell 42, Joe Clarke 22, Dwayne Bravo 3-37, Imran Tahir 2-20, Zahoor Khan 2-33).
Captain Kieron Pollard and opener Andre Fletcher both scored half-centuries as the MI Emirates crushed Desert Vipers to go third in the standings of the ILT20 in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
MI Emirates scored 241-3 from their 20 overs before skittling the Desert Vipers out for just 84.
Fletcher scored his 50 from 39 balls in a 141-run opening partnership with Player of the Match Mohammad Waseem, who hit 11 fours and two sixes in his top score of 86.
Fletcher’s dismissal in the 13th over saw ME Emirates slip from 141-0 to 152 for 3 as Waseem was next to go in the 15th over with big hitter Najibullah Zadran going two balls later for a duck.
Enter Captain Pollard who smashed his 50 from just 19 balls while he and Dan Mousley mounted an unbeaten stand of 89 in 32 balls to propel MI Emirates to their daunting total.
Pollard’s unbeaten 50 contained four fours and four sixes while Mously contributed a valuable 31 from just 17 balls with three fours and two sixes.
Tom Curran, who had the wickets of Waseem and Zadran was expensive yielding 63 runs from his four overs.
The pressure of the score proved too much for the Vipers. They crumbled in the face of the bowling of Fazalhaq Farooqi who took 3-18, Zahoor Khan 1-9 and Imran Tahir, who wrapped up the match with 2-18 in 3.1 overs.
With their fourth win in seven games, MI Emirates are third in the six-team standings with nine points, one behind Gulf Giants and Desert Vipers, who still lead despite the loss.
An aggressive half-century from Shimron Hetmyer helped propel Gulf Giants to a five-wicket victory over Desert Vipers in the ILT20 league in Dubai on Sunday.
Hetmyer scored 70 from just 35 balls as Gulf Giants scored 196-5 to win with three balls to spare. Despite the impressive knock from the Guyanese batsman, he did not do it alone as Chris Lynn was equally impressive scoring 71 from 42 balls in the winning effort.
Lynn and Hetmyer’s partnership of 117 from 56 balls helped get Gulf Giants’ chase back on track after they had lost Tom Banton, James Vince and Rehan Amhed for three, four and one, respectively, with only 30 runs on the board.
Hetmyer was eventually dismissed in the 14th over having hit five sixes and five fours. Lynn fell in the 17th leaving the dependable David Weise and Liam Dawson to take the Giants to victory.
Weise was unbeaten on 22 from 19 balls while Dawson was not out on 16 from just nine balls in the end.
Sheldon Cottrell was the best of the Vipers’ bowlers with 2-24 from his four overs.
Earlier, Vipers owed their challenging total to Alex Hales 99 from just 57 balls. He hit 10 fours and five sixes in his knock and got support from Colin Munro, who scored 39 from 23 balls and Sherfane Rutherford, who contributed 27 from 15 balls as Desert Vipers scored 195-4 from their allotment.
It proved to be a tough target but one that Hetmyer and Lynn were able to achieve.
Rovman Powell hit a magnificent 97 from 41 balls to lead the Dubai Capitals to a thrilling 16-run victory over the MI Emirates in a high-scoring match in the ILT20 League in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Powell, the Player of the Match, hit four fours and 10 sixes while powering Dubai Capitals for 222-3 from their 20 overs. Powell featured in a second-wicket partnership of 121 from just 57 balls with former England captain Joe Root, who scored 82 from 54 balls.
Root and Robin Uthappa had laid the foundation with an opening stand of 78 from 53 balls before the latter was dismissed for 26.
Powell was eventually dismissed by Kieron Pollard from the last ball of the innings, but the damage was already done.
Chasing the highest score in the tournament so far, MI Emirates lost three wickets for 26 runs early including that of Nicholas Pooran for a duck in the sixth over.
His dismissal brought together Pollard and Andre Fletcher and together that made things interesting for Dubai that came into the game on the back of three consecutive losses.
Together, Pollard and Fletcher went on the offensive smashing balls to all parts as they stitched together a stand of 118 with the Trinidadian scoring the bulk of those runs, 86 from 38 balls with eight fours and six sixes before he was dismissed by Powell in the 16th over with his side still needing 79 from the last 24 balls.
Najibullah Zadran got them closer with a quickfire 30 from just nine balls but once he fell, yorked by Fred Klaasen in the 19th over, the remaining runs proved elusive despite the best efforts of Fletcher, who remained unbeaten on 35 at the end with MI Emriates on 206-5.
West Indies All-rounder Rovman Powell starred to help the Dubai Capitals to a 73-run win over the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in Friday’s opening match of the DP World ILT20 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
Capitals skipper Powell top scored with 48 while Indian Robin Uthappa got 43 to lead the team to a competitive 187-6 from their 20 overs.
Powell’s knock came off just 29 balls and included three fours and as many sixes while Uthappa’s innings lasted 33 deliveries with three fours and one less six.
Joe Root and Sikandar Raza also both chipped in with 26, respectively, against two wickets apiece from Ravi Rampaul (2-36 from four overs) and Ali khan (2-45 from three overs). Captain Sunil Narine and Andre Russell were the other wicket-takers.
Powell also produced the goods with the ball with 2-15 from two overs as the Knight Riders were reduced to just 114-9 off their 20 overs
Mujeeb Ur Rahman was also excellent with the ball conceding just 16 runs in four overs to go along with his two wickets.
Paul Stirling was the only Knight Riders batsman to produce any resistance with a 38-ball 54 including five fours and two sixes.
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