Bowlers star as Giants keep playoff hopes alive with Capitals romp
DUBAI: A combined effort by the bowlers, backed up with some superb fielding, helped the Gulf Giants register a 19-run come-from-behind victory over the Dubai Capitals in their DP World ILT20 match in Dubai on Tuesday.
All the Giants bowlers clicked together when it matered the most to thwart the Capitals to 107 ater posting a total of 126/9. With the victory, the Giants not only kept their hopes alive but also boosted their chances of making it to the playoffs. They moved to the third spot with eight points.
Defending, the Giants refused to give up and made some inroads through some excellent bowling and extraordinary fielding. They took brilliant catches and frustrated the batsmen with tight fielding, which prompted them to take suicidal singles and lose their wickets.
Warner’s bad patch with the bat continued as he was the first to go. He gave a sot catch to Jordan at short mid-wicket while playing a half-hearted shot.
A charged-up Giants bowlers choked the flow of the runs before Rahmanullah Gurbaz hit two consecutive sixes off Blessing Muzarabani to take the pressure off.
Thecapitalsracedto30from15inthefourthover. But Muzarabani had the last laugh as he trapped Gurbaz with a bait. The Afghanistan batsman could not connect the slower one properly, and Jordan completed an easy catch.
The Capitals kept losing the wickets at regular intervals and failed to get the partnerships going. Sam Billing was clean bowled by Jordan before Erasmus uprooted the stumps of Max Holden as the Capitals were reduced to 53/4.
A 20-run stand between Sikandar Raza and Ben Dunk seemed to have revived the innings before the Capitals lost two wickets on the same score. Dunk was found short of ground as Vince dismantled the bails with a direct throw. Raza was clean bowled by Ayaan Afzal Khan as the Capitals lost the sixth wicket.
Vince again effected another run-out with an accurate throw, which was collected well by Smith, who dislodged the bails to derail the chase. Zuhaib Zubair bowled Olly Stone before Ayaan had Akif Raja caught by Erasmus. The Capitals still needed 37 runs off 4.2 overs. Dasun Shanaka and Haider keptthechasealiveandbroughttheequationdown to 17 needed off the last 10 balls. Ali became the third man to be run out, and the Capitals innings folded at 107. Shanaka’s valiant effort went in vain. He scored a fighting 26-ball 24.
Earlier, the Giants’ knack of losing wickets in bulk at the beginning of the innings and then depending* on Shimron Hetmyer for rescue acts seemed to be geting stronger with every match.
The story was different on Wednesday in Dubai. This time around, it was Kuggeleijn and Stone who were the tormentors-in-chief for the Giants until Hetmyer took the guard to begin the repair work once again.
The Giants needed to win all their remaining matches to keep their playoff hopes alive. But once again, they got off to a stutering start, losing the first wicket for 11 runs. They are facing a persistent problem with the opening pair. They have not been geting off to a stable start.
Kuggeleijntriggeredthecollapsewiththedismissal of opener Jamie Smith. He was taken by Shanaka ater hiting a couple of boundaries. In the next over, Stone struck twice on successive deliveries to push the Giants on the backfoot completely.
Lynn fell prey to a spell-binding running catch by Kuggeleijn off Stone at the square leg. Stone foxed Cox and uprooted his stumps with an inswinger on the next delivery to make it 12/3.
Kuggeleijn returned to heap more misery on the struggling Giants as he sent Gerhard Erasmus back five runs later. The Giants were totering at 17/4 in their must-win game. Hetmyer and captain James Vince knuckled down to anchor the innings. They added 51 runs for the fith wicket to bring the innings back on track.
Vince belted a 28-ball 32 with the help of four boundaries to keep the Capitals’ bowlers at bay from one end. He was caught and bowled by Haider Ali, who picked up his first scalp of the day. Ayaan Afzal Khan, along with Hetmyer, took the score to 91 before he retired. He was called back by the coach, Andy Flower, as he was bating at a snail’s pace.