Dubai: Ben Dunk’s fighting 59, Rovman Powell’s unbeaten 40 and Jason Holder (23n.o) helped Dubai Capitals register a thrilling four-wicket win off the last ball of the match against Desert Vipers in the 17th match of the DP World ILT20 season 2 at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday.
Powell and Holder put an unbeaten 38 runs in 26 balls for the seventh wicket to snatch the match away from the grip of the Vipers. Powell’s 40 off 32 balls had three boundaries and a six.
Chasing a target of 170 was an edge of the seat affair. Opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz fell for just four runs lifting Shaheen Afridi to Maheesh Pathirana, who took a brilliant running and diving catch at mid-off. Skipper David Warner failed again, getting out to Afridi caught by his counterpart Colin Munro at extra cover for 4. The star batsman scores in this tournament before this match have been 1, 20, 0, 21 and 16.
Wanindu Hasaranga, who was introduced in the seventh over, had Sam Billings caught and bowled for 6. Dunk reached his half century in 23 balls with six boundaries and two sixes to light up his team’s hopes. At the half way mark, at the score on 80, Rohan Mustafa picked the dangerous looking Dunk, out caught by Hasaranga at long-off for 59 off 30 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes.
Rovman Powell and Sikandar Raza refused to bow to the pressure and put on a 41-run partnership in 27 balls for the fifth wicket when Raza top edged Amir to Pathirana for 22 when 49 more runs were needed. Vipers went for the kill through Hasaranga removing Rahul Chopra for 4. Powell along with Jason Holder made it 19 to win off 12 balls and they took 15 runs off Afridi’s penultimate over. Pathirana bowled a brilliant last over with only four runs to defend but Capitals won off the last ball.
Earlier, Rohan Mustafa scored 50 off 33 balls with four boundaries and three sixes. Alex Hales cracked 49 off 32 balls with two boundaries and four sixes. Together they put on an opening partnership of 81 in 8.2 overs. When Vipers lost quick wickets, Adam Hose lifted the team by scoring an unbeaten 35 runs off 17 balls with three sixes and two boundaries.
Big hitting
The action began with Capitals opting to bowl first against Vipers after winning the toss. Capitals had won the toss and elected to bat first in their last match against Sharjah Warriors and lost the contest. Vipers’ opener Rohan Mustafa hit Scotland medium pacer Scott Kuggeleijn for two consecutive sixes in the third over, the first shot cleared the long-on and second was pulled over square leg. When opener Alex Hales too hit Kuggeleijn’s last delivery for a six to over long-off, 19 runs were scored off that over. The pair did not spare Jason Holder either and hit him for 17 runs in the fourth over. The 50 runs partnership came in 4.3 overs.
Mustafa reached his half century in 32 balls with four boundaries and three sixes, but fell to the next ball caught by Rahul Chopra at deep square leg off Akif Raja. Colin Munro and Hales took the score past the 100 run mark in the 12th over, and Hales hit Sikandar Raza for two consecutive straight sixes. Unfortunately, Hales fell one short of his half century when he hit Holder to Roelof Van der Merwe at cover to a slower delivery. This brought in the aggressive Azam Khan but Dushmantha Chameera had him caught by Warner at mid-off for a duck. When Munro too pulled Raza to Kuggeleijn at deep midwicket for 16, hopes of a big score began to fade. Then the aggressive Sherfane Rutherford too got out caught by Chopra at deep square leg off Kuggeleijn for a duck. Adam Hose and Wanindu Hasaranga (12) took the score to 20 runs more than the 150-run mark.
Warner, hailing his team, said, “ This is really an important win. The belief in our change room in chasing suits us. We’re calm and composed and the guys know how to get the job done. Here the ball tends to slow up on the wicket. But we still need to nail the power play with the bat. I’m not worried about myself (form).”
Losing skipper Munro said: “This was a tough one to swallow. Through the middle it got tough to bat. They bowled really well. Some slower balls gripped a little, and some died. Ben Dunk turned back the clock and played beautifully”.
Player of the Match Dunk said: “It was just great for the team to get back to the winners list. I’ve had my intent every time. Some of the high risk options didn’t come off, but today they did. Jason and Rovman at the end are world class finishers and they got it done. It was a hell of a last over; in fairness, he (Pathirana) bowled beautifully.”
Brief scores: Dubai Capitals bt Desert Vipers by 4 wkts. Desert Vipers 169 for 6 in 20 overs (Rohan Mustafa 50, Alex Hales 49, Adam Hose 35n.o) Dubai Capitals 170 for 6 in 20 overs (Ben Dunk 59, Sikandar Raza 22, Rovman Powell 40 n.o, Jason Holder 23n.o, Shaheen Afridi 2 for 47, Wanindu Hasaranaga 2 for 25). Player of the Match: Ben Dunk
