29th Jan, 2023

Back on winning track: 241/3 with the bat, and skittled the opposition out for 84!

By MI Emirates Media

MI Emirates came up with a dominating performance in both bat and ball in the ILT20 as they notched up their fourth win of the tournament with a big 157-run win over the Desert Vipers at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium here.

“After losing the last two games, everyone in the team had one thing in mind over the past 4-5 days, to win the next match. Our focus remains the title, so we take each match as the final,” pacer Zahoor Khan said at the post-match presser.

“It is good to be back on winning ways, and happy that I could also play a part in the team’s win with two wickets,” he added.

The match witnessed a series of team and individual records broken from the MI Emirates side. To begin with, MI Emirates total of 241/3 was the highest by any team in the tournament so far, and so was their margin of victory in terms of runs. Also the opening partnership of 141 from MI Emirates’ combo of Muhammed Waseem and Andre Fletcher put them on top of the table.

For MI Emirates, skipper Kieron Pollard, who has hit a purple patch with the bat, the Trinidadian giant vaulted to the second spot among the highest run-getters with 275 runs from six outings at a commanding average of 91.66. He also leads the pack of six-hitters with 20 towering hits out of the park so far in the tournament. Not only that, Pollard’s 50 off 19 balls, laced with four boundaries and as many sixes, against the Vipers’ made him the joint fastest to score a half century.

Put in to bat, MI Emirates came up all guns blazing with the new opening duo Waseem and Fletcher getting the side to a flying 141-run start. Waseem, who received a reprieve on 1, took full advantage of the let-off, and enthralled the MI Emirates fans with an exquisite range of power-hitting to record his second fifty off mere 24 deliveries, even as Fletcher complimented his younger partner playing the perfect second fiddle with a 39-ball 50, containing four fours and a couple of sixes before departing in the 13th over.

Waseem, however, looked in ominous form, and went on to smash the ball out of the boundary line for 15 times in his 44-ball 86, which included depositing the ball on the roof, a couple of times. And with Pollard joining him in the middle, the confidence showed in his batting, as the skipper ensured that the flow of runs continued. The skipper got the long handle to great effect with a flashy half century before debutant Dan Mousley (31 off 17 balls) joined him for providing the finishing touches to the flourishing total. Pollard and Mousley ensured MI Emirates put on a record total with a 89-run fourth wicket partnership before heading back undefeated.

In reply, the Desert Vipers never found themselves in contention, after losing wickets at regular intervals. Left-arm seamer Fazalhaq Farooqi started the onslaught with the big wickets of Rohan Mustafa, skipper Colin Munro and Benny Howell before Trent Bolt got the prized scalp of Alex Hales for 4 runs. Zahoor Khan and Imran Tahir, who came back after a break, joined the party with a couple of wickets each, while Mousley and the seasoned Dwayne Bravo chipped in with one wicket apiece to ensure that the Vipers’ are restricted to 84 in 12.1 overs.

“We were mentally relaxed after getting 240 on the board. But since the wicket was good for batting, our captain advised us to stick to the plans and not take things lightly. It was important to hit the deck hard on this wicket and we got the result for sticking to the ploy,” Zahoor said.


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