Team Abu Dhabi and Delhi Bulls battled hard for a victory as the match ended in an enthralling tie.
The second match of the day on Friday lit up the tournament through a thriller. A cleanly fought contest saw Team Abu Dhabi post 120 for 2 in their quota of 10 overs through a fine unbeaten knock of 64 from Brandon King.
Team Abu Dhabi and Delhi Bulls battled hard for a victory as the match ended in an enthralling tie.
Delhi Bulls chased the target strongly but could only equal the score off the last ball. Imad Wasim tried hard to take Delhi Bulls past the target with 21* off 9 balls.
The exciting contest began with Team Abu Dhabi winning the toss and electing to bat.
Opener Alex Hales gave Abu Dhabi a quick start, hitting Imad Wasim’s fifth and sixth ball of the first over for sixes. However, Waqas Masood ended Hales’ knock with the last ball of the second over getting him caught at deep midwicket by Rilee Rossouw for 14.
Thereafter, Richard Gleeson struck in the third over as opener Chris Lynn departed with just four runs to his name.
James Vince began his innings by hitting Maqsood for a boundary to short fine leg. Keemo Paul bowled a good fifth over, preventing the batsmen from playing any big shots. At the halfway mark, Team Abu Dhabi’s scoreboard read 41/2.
Shiraz Ahmed, the hero of their last match against Northern Warriors, was introduced for the sixth over. Except for Brandon King scoring a boundary off the first ball, he gave nothing away.
King changed the course of the innings in the seventh over hitting Keemo Paul for three sixes, getting 22 runs from that over.
Shiraz, who bowled the eighth over was hit for two boundaries by King to take 13 runs off that over. Gleeson tied the batsmen in the ninth over by not yielding any big hits and giving away just eight runs.
Skipper Dwayne Bravo introduced himself for the last over. King hit Bravo for two fours and sixes apiece to amass 25 runs off the final over. This gave Team Abu Dhabi a creditable 120 for 2 in 10 overs.
Chasing a run-rate of 12, Delhi Bulls opener Tom Banton smashed the second ball of the first over for a four from Naveen-Ul-Haq through the covers. He also hit the fourth ball through the same region for another boundary. Peter Hatzoglou, who bowled the second over, was hit by opener Rossouw for a boundary and a six off the first two deliveries.
Banton too hit Hatzoglou for a six and a boundary off the fifth and sixth deliveries. Twenty-one runs came off that over. Tye who bowled the third over was also hit for a six by Rossouw to fine leg. With the fourth ball, Tye got Rossouw out caught by Abid Ali at extra cover for 18.
Jordan Cox, who joined Banton, hit Adil Rashid for a six, but Rashid gave away only nine runs in that over. The fifth over from Amad Butt ended Banton’s knock. He got him trapped leg before for 19.
Tim David took charge and hit Butt for a boundary and in the next over, slammed Rashid for a huge six. Cox too hit Hatzoglou for six.
Forty-four runs were needed off the last 18 balls and the pressure began to mount on Delhi Bull batsmen.
Tye got Cox out for 18 caught by Amad Butt at extra cover. Imad Wasim then hit Tye for a boundary and a six to make it 29 runs from 12 balls. Keemo Paul lit up hopes of victory with two successive sixes off Amad Butt. Unfortunately, Paul fell to the last ball caught by King at extra cover for 16.
The last over drama
With 13 runs needed off the last over, Imad Wasim took a single off Naveed-Ul-Haq’s first delivery. Dwayne Bravo too took a single off the second delivery. The third delivery was hit for a boundary over the covers by Imad to make it seven from three balls.
The fourth resulted in two byes including an overthrow. Imad then took two runs off the fifth ball to long-off.
With three runs needed off the last ball for a win, it was anybody’s game. A straight drive from Imad fetched him just two runs and the match ended in a tie.
Brief scores:
Team Abu Dhabi-Delhi Bulls match tied.
Team Abu Dhabi 120 for 2 in 10 overs (James Vince 26*, Brandon King 64*, Waqas Maqsood 1/11) tied with Delhi Bulls 120 for 5 in 10 overs (Tim David 20, Imad Wasim 21*, Amad Butt 2/26)
Player of the Match: Brandon King