NEW DELHI: Abu Dhabi Knight Riders celebrated their maiden victory in ILT20 Season 3, defeating Sharjah Warriorz by 30 runs on the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi. Jason Holder’s sensible spell of 4/23 and David Willey’s 3/19 helped defend the goal of 159/5 with ease.
Batting first, the Knight Riders had been propelled to 159/5, because of a late unbeaten 50-run partnership between Andre Russell and Laurie Evans within the demise overs. Kyle Mayers offered an early spark with a quickfire 21, whereas Evans anchored the innings with an unbeaten 39. Russell added fireworks on the finish with a 12-ball 24. In reply, the Warriorz struggled to construct partnerships and had been hindered by quite a few dot balls.
The Warriorz innings mirrored the primary, as David Willey dismissed Tom Kohler-Cadmore and Jason Roy inside the first three overs. Johnston Charles tried a counterattack however fell to Jason Holder, leaving the Warriorz at 29/Three within the powerplay. Rohan Mustafa added 21 runs with 4 boundaries earlier than changing into Holder’s second sufferer within the eighth over.
Willey returned to assert his third wicket, eradicating Karim Janat for 9. Bhanuka Rajapaksa endured a irritating knock of seven off 19 balls earlier than falling to Shahid Bhutta within the 13th over, decreasing the Warriorz to 70/6. Harmeet Singh contributed eight runs, and Keemo Paul confirmed resilience with a few boundaries earlier than each fell to Jason Holder through the demise overs.
Requiring 54 off the ultimate two overs, skipper Tim Southee struck two fours and two sixes within the 19th over to maintain the chase alive. Nevertheless, Mayers dismissed him within the remaining over, bundling out the Warriorz for 129 in 19.Three overs.
Earlier, Adam Milne rattled the Knight Riders’ prime order, bowling Phil Salt and Kyle Mayers in his fiery opening spell, leaving them at 26/2 in three overs. Earlier than his dismissal, Mayers smashed two fours and two sixes in a nine-ball blitz, scoring 21. The Knight Riders reached 49/2 on the finish of the powerplay.
Joe Clarke, coming in at quantity three, weathered the early stress with a 27-ball 32. Nevertheless, Michael Pepper fell to Adil Rashid for seven, caught by Rohan Mustafa at deep backward sq. leg. Rashid additionally dismissed Alishan Sharafu for an important 13 after partnerships of 24 and 23 with Clarke and Evans, respectively, leaving the Knight Riders at 109/5 in 15.Three overs.
Laurie Evans anchored the innings with 39 off 31 balls, whereas Andre Russell offered the of entirety, smashing three sixes in a 12-ball cameo value 24 runs. Their unbeaten 50-run partnership off 27 balls carried the Knight Riders to 159/5 of their allotted 20 overs.
Reflecting on the loss, Sharjah Warriorz captain Tim Southee stated, “The pitch was a difficult one. It’s nonetheless early phases of the match; we are going to mud ourselves off and sit up for the following ones. We wish our dot balls to be rather a lot decrease than 70 balls so we are going to attempt to minimise that. We all know this sport can change rapidly, so we get a time off tomorrow and we go once more.”
Participant of the Match David Willey defined his bowling technique, saying, “I at all times intention to take wickets and attempt to swing the brand new ball to realize that. The scoreboard typically dictates what we’d like, and I give attention to studying the sport nicely to ship accordingly. I’ve constructed my profession round swinging the ball and at all times attempt to remain one step forward of the batter.”
