The Maratha Arabians’ swashbuckling opener Abdul Shakoor gave the perfect start to The Abu Dhabi T10, stealing the show with a blazing 14-ball half-century. He struck five maximums and seven fours en route 73 off 28 to guide the Arabians to victory.
The opening day witnessed the 100-run mark being crossed by every team and the chasing side coming on top in all encounters.
Here, we glance through what made the first day of 2020 ADT10 a blockbuster.
Abdul Shakoor stars in Maratha Arabians’ win over Northern Warriors | Full scorecard
Northern Warriors got off to a great start with the opening 62-run stand doing most of the damage. It only ended only when wicketkeeper Abdul Shakoor’s heroic effort ran opener Brandon King out. Lendl Simmons reached his fifty in 29 balls and the Warriors smashed 35 runs in the two last overs to put up 127/2 on the scoreboard.
In the chase, Maratha Arabians’ Abdul Shakoor took advantage of the powerplay as he rained sixes and fours on the way to his fifty in just 14 balls.
But the Warriors’ came back late in the game after Sakhoor got out in the ninth over for 73 (28) and a runout was affected in the next delivery. Wayne Parnell bowled a tight last over but a misfield in the penultimate delivery meant the Maratha Arabians took the win in the last ball.
Brief scores: Northern Warriors 127/2 (Lendl Simmons 54*; Muktar Ali 1/19) lost to Maratha Arabians 131/5 (Abdul Shakoor 73; Fabian Allen 2/11) by 5 wickets.
Kennar Lewis guides Pune Devils to victory over Deccan Gladiators | Full scorecard
The star-studded Deccan Gladiators made a shaky courtesy of some brilliant bowling and fielding that reduced them to 15/3 in 3.1 overs. It was hard to recover from there but as South African southpaw Cameron Delport and Pakistan youngster Azam Khan put some life back into the match, adding 21 in nine balls. Although Cameron Delport fell later, Azam Khan held fort to help the Gladiators reach a respectable 104/5.
Pune Devils got off to a decent chase but wickets at regular intervals meant the game could swing either way. Moreover, some thoughtful field placement by the Gladiators’ captain Keiron Pollard helped them bowl 23 dot balls. However, Devils’ opener Kennar Lewis took calculative risks to bring up his fifty in 27 deliveries. Two sixes by Lewis in the first two balls of the last over got Pune Devils their first win of The Abu Dhabi T10.
Brief scores: Deccan Gladiators 104/5 (Azam Khan 37*, Nassir Hossain 3/18) lost to Pune Devils 106/3 in 9.2 overs (Kennar Lewis 57*, Ravi Rampaul 1/13) by 7 wickets.
Rahmanullah Gurbaz blitz sinks Bangla Tigers | Full scoreboard
Choosing to bat first, Bangla Tigers captain Andre Fletcher and Johnson Charles started with a blaze and some authority, roaring their way to 100 in just 40 balls. Charles, with five towering sixes and four fours, brought up his fifty in 20 deliveries.
Delhi Bulls’ captain Dwayne Bravo provided the much-needed breakthrough by sending back Fletcher at 31 (16) and put the brakes on the runflow, making sure Bangla Tigers were restricted to 128/2 at the end of 10 overs.
Delhi Bulls’ opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz started the chase with a huge six and continued the assault on his way to 41 (15) before falling to a pinpoint yorker. The new batsman Ravi Bopara was dropped twice in the fifth over as the Bulls raced to 72/1 in five overs and he used the lifelines to score a quickfire 38 (16).
Two wickets in succession could not stop the Bulls from sailing comfortably to the target with an over to spare.
Brief scores: Bangla Tigers 128/2 (Johnson Charles 73*, Fidel Edwards 1/17) lost to Delhi Bulls 129/3 in 8.5 overs (Rahmanullah Gurbaz 41, Karim Janat 2/34)
