MIE 186/6 in 20 Overs [Nicholas Pooran 49(26), Romario Shepherd 38*(13); Jason Holder 2/38 in 4 Overs] beat ADKR 158/9 [Andre Russell 37*(23); Alzarri Joseph 2/33 in 4 Overs] by 28 runs.
After a comprehensive win in their previous game the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders clashed against the MI Emirates with an aim to pick up back-to-back wins and scale up in the points table. An all-round performance handed the Knight Riders a superb win where they outclassed their opponents in all three departments. As they returned back home to the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, ADKR had their sights set on yet another win and replicating another strong team performance.
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Skipper Sunil Narine won the toss and chose to bowl first on a pitch which looked to have enough assistance for both batters and bowlers. The ADKR bowlers came out with an intent to execute their plans and bowl tight lengths in order to restrict the run flow in the powerplay. These plans came to fruition as Jason Holder picked up an important first wicket of Kusal Perera in the powerplay itself as ADKR looked to capitalise. However, Tom Banton and Muhammed Waseem stitched together a good partnership to stabilise the MIE innings. Just when things looked going MIE’s way a run-out of Tom Banton triggered a collapse. ADKR capitalised on the mix-up and put immense pressure on the Emirates as they skittled from 80-2 to 119-5. ADKR aimed to wrap up the innings by stemming the run flow but despite their best efforts, Nicholas Pooran’s quickfire innings and Romario Shepherd blitzkrieg in the last over, propelled MI Emirates to a total of 186. The onus was now upon the ADKR batters to chase down this competitive total and pick up the important victory for ADKR.
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The ADKR batters came out in blazing fashion to chase down the big total as both Andries Gous and Kyle Mayers got on a roll in the powerplay. The duo smacked the MIE bowlers to all parts of the stadium and took ADKR off to a tremendous start. However, Mayers lost his wicket trying to go for the aggressive route and ADKR stumbled in their tracks. Despite trying their best, the rest of the batter could not keep the runs ticking as wickets fell in regular intervals. When things looked completely swaying away from ADKR, a special partnership from Andre Russell and Sunil Narine down the order sparked some hope into the proceedings. A 50-run partnership off just 27 balls saw Dre-Russ and Narine smash the MIE bowlers to all parts of the stadium. The game went down right till the end but the ADKR weren’t able to cross the line and fell short by 28 runs. The Knight Riders will be looking to adapt, learn and come back stronger in their next game. In a couple of days time, these two sides will do battle yet again and ADKR will be looking to bounce back in a strong way in this next encounter.
