Chennai Braves braved the challenge from the Bangla Tigers through Carlos Brathwaite’s fine all-round show to register a 33-run victory in the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday.
In the third match of the day, Chennai Braves posted 126 for 6 in 10 overs with Carlos Brathwaite scoring an unbeaten 44. Bangla Tigers were restricted to 93 with Brathwaite bagging four wickets for three runs.
Chennai Braves won the toss and elected to bat.
They lost their first wicket in the first over when non-striker Adam Rossington got run out while trying to get back into the crease. One-drop Michael Pepper began with a boundary to backward point off the last ball of the first over from Rohan Mustafa.
Dawid Malan too began to score freely from there on. He hit Mrittunjoy Chowdhury for two boundaries and a six in the second over. Pepper too freed his hands in the third over scoring two consecutive boundaries off Shakib Al Hasan.
However, Pepper fell for 13 with Iftikhar Ahmed taking a brilliant catch on the long-off fence.
Benny Howell bowled a miserly fourth over giving away just seven runs. Matheesha Pathirana struck a vital blow with the first ball of the fifth over by having Dawid Malan dismissed for 27. Runs became hard to come by for Chennai Braves when Raza bowled a tight sixth over.
Rohan Mustafa ended Raza’s knock for 10. Brathwaite lit up hopes of the total going past the 100-run mark with a boundary and two sixes off Howell.
Though Howell got Ross Whiteley caught and bowled for 2 with the last ball of his over, 18 runs were scored off it. The ninth over from Mrittunjoy Chowdhury too yielded 17 runs with James Fuller hitting a six and a boundary.
The successful last over saw Brathwaite hit a four and a six in addition to Aravind’s maximum to propel their team to 126/6.
Bangla Tigers began their chase by losing the important wicket of Hazratullah Zazai in the first over.
Evin Lewis picked a boundary off Raza’s last delivery while Iftikhar too got another off Olly Stone’s first delivery. Stone struck a vital blow in the following over, dismissing Lewis on the third ball.
Iftikhar hit the fifth ball for a six and a boundary off the last ball.
The third over was uneventful except for a boundary from Colin Munro off Patrick Dooley. Munro and Iftikhar hit one six each off Fuller’s fourth over. Despite that, the required run rate was over 14 runs.
In the fifth over, Brathwaite had Munro caught by Sabir Rao at fine leg for 15. Brathwaite also had Ben Cutting with the next delivery. Benny Howell prevented that from happening and at the halfway mark Bangla Tigers were struggling at 45 for 4.
Iftikhar continued to play his big shots and hit Dooley for two consecutive sixes. However, the bowler struck a wicket off the last ball of the over.
With 51 runs needed off the last 18 balls, Raza was hit for a six by Shakib off the fourth ball. The last delivery of that over saw Iftikhar run out while backing up at non-striker for 49. His knock off 20 balls had two boundaries and five sixes. Raza gave just eight runs in that over.
Stone bowled the ninth over giving away only eight runs and also taking the wicket of Shakib Al Hasan caught by Brathwaite at mid-on for 15 with the last ball.
With 35 runs needed off the last over, Rohan Mustafa joined Yasir Kaleem, who got out to Brathwaite caught behind by wicketkeeper Rossington. Brathwaite also clean-bowled Mustafa for a duck to return with figures of 4/3.
Brief scores:
Chennai Braves 126 for 6 in 10 overs (Dawid Malan 27, Carlos Brathwaite 44*) beat Bangla Tigers 93 in 9.5 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 49, Carlos Brathwaite 4/3) by 33 runs.
Player of the Match: Carlos Brathwaite
