ADKR 159/5 in 20 Overs [Laurie Evans 39*(31), Andre Russell 24*(12); Adil Rashid 2/14 in 4 overs] beat SW 129/10 [Tim Southee 24(11); Jason Holder 4/23 in 4 overs, Davi Willey 3/19 in 4 overs] by 30 runs
Under the bright lights at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium, the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders took on the Sharjah Warriorz in the quest to find their first win of the season. The Knight Riders aimed to take the field with a renewed spirit and eyed a strong comeback. The second home game for the Knights marked new opportunities and a lot of excitement for the fans who turned up to cheer their favourite stars.
View this post on Instagram
ADKR batted first on a good pitch with the ball swinging in the initial phase. Both openers started in a strong way with Kyle Mayers taking the charge to the bowlers and smashing a couple of meaty blows. However, both the openers lost their wickets in quick succession to put ADKR on the backfoot. An effective partnership between Joe Clarke & Michael Pepper steadied the innings before Pepper lost his wicket trying to accelerate. Shortly after that, Clarke also got dismissed with ADKR innings needing a big rescue job. Laurie Evans, who walked in next, stepped up and took responsibility of carrying the innings to a competitive total. Andre Russell put on another blockbuster show in the end overs smashing the SW bowlers to all parts of the stadium. The duo stitched together a blazing 50-run partnership as they steered ADKR to a total of 159. With a tricky pitch and conditions, ADKR bowlers backed themselves to defend the total.
View this post on Instagram
David Willey started the defence of the total in sensational fashion as he picked up a wicket on the 2nd ball of the innings. He backed it up with yet another wicket as he dismissed the dangerous Jason Roy as ADKR took full control of the game. Skipper Narine applied more pressure from both ends as he got Jason Holder to bowl from the other end to utilise the bite in the surface. The move paid dividends immediately as Holder picked up a wicket as well and SW slipped further to 29-3. ADKR continued to pile on the pressure while the Warriorz collapsed in their quest to reach the total. Jason Holder did the maximum damage with a 4-fer while Mayers chipped in with a couple of wickets as they broke the back of SW’s batting. Eventually, the Warriorz got bowled out for 129 handing ADKR a victory by a considerable margin of 30 runs. This marked ADKR’s first win of the season and they will be looking forward to carrying on the momentum. The team will be happy in their well-rounded performance & will aim to replicate something similar going forward. All in all it was an excellent day’s play for ADKR and a big confidence boost for the season ahead.
