We were in for a Sharjah treat, an absolute batting masterclass. Tom Banton, who’d already lit up the tournament a couple of games earlier, was in the mood to blaze it this afternoon in the desert. Let’s relive proceedings.. 

The genius that is Fazalhaq Farooqi

On a pitch that is a batting beauty, in an innings where the rest of the bowlers are going at a minimum of nine run an over, this guy goes at six. And takes four wickets doing so. He struck in the second over of the match, dismissing the dangerous Jason Roy, then came back later to get rid of Johnson Charles who was batting on 59, before blowing over a couple more in the 18^th over, ensuring that the Sharjah Warriorz ended up with a seemingly under-par 176 in their 20 overs. 

Kusal Perera Joins the party

The signs were pretty evident in the previous game of him having found his rhythm. And in the company of Tom Banton here, he was happy to play second fiddle, taking his time and playing some risk-free cricket in his 42-ball knock of 56. 

Oh Tom Banton, the showman!

102 runs | 55 balls | 10 fours | 6 sixes. And he got MI Emirates home in a canter. There was a point when getting to a century seemed a tad difficult, but he was simply in the zone, belting out sixes for fun, and with 13 runs left for victory, he found both with a couple of maximums off Dilshan Madushanka. To think he took nine balls to get off the mark! 

So we’ve jumped up to second spot on the points table with this win. Oh, it feels great. Now to win two on the bounce as we head home to Abu Dhabi.