Powell shines as Capitals move to second spot with Vipers romp

Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Rovman Powell and Jason Holder held their nerves to steer Dubai Capitals to a thrilling four-wicket victory over Desert Vipers in their DP World ILT20 match in Dubai on Thursday.

Powell scored a watchful 32-ball 40 and Holder played a cameo of 23 runs off 12 deliveries as Capitals overhauled the target off the last ball of match for the loss of six wickets.

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Wickets kept on falling on one end but Powell kept Capitals in hunt with a fighting knock of 40 runs. He shared an unbeaten stand of 38 runs with Holder as Capitals notched up their third win of the tournament to move to the second spot in the standings.

Chasing, Capitals were off to a faltering start as they lost first wicket with just nine runs on the board. Explosive opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz was sent back by Pakistan’s captain Shahheen Shah Afridi.

Ben Dunk smashed a whirlwind 30-ball 59 and shared a 30-run partnership for the second wicket to put the innings on track. Dunk was so brutal that in the 30-runs stand, Warner scored just four. 

Warner’s bad form with the bat continued as he has scored 60 runs in six innings so far in the tournament. Sam Billings was caught and bowled by Hasaranga as Capitals lost the third wicket for 56 runs.

Capitals needed a big partnership. But their batsmen failed to convert their start into big scores and could not get the partnerships going.

Dunk kept the chase alive with a fighting knock. He was taken by Hasaranga off Mustafa, who picked up his first wicket. Sikander Raza and Powell took the match deeper with a 40-run stand.

Amir and Hasaranga struck in successive overs as Capitals lost two wickets within a span of 10 runs and were left tattering at 132/6. Amir got rid of Raza and Hasaranga had Rahul Chopra caught by Pathirana. But with Powell on the crease, Capitals were still in contention. The West Indian was waging the lone battle.

Earlier, UAE player Rohan Mustafa smashed a blitzkrieg fifty and shared an 81-run stand with Alex Hales for the first wicket to set the tone for a big total.

This is the biggest first-wicket partnership of the tournament this season. Both Rohan and Hales toyed with the bowling attack of Capitals as they hit the shots at their will all over the ground.

Both the openers started cautiously and paced up their innings nicely. Mustafa changed his gears in the third innings as he tonked Kuggeleijn for two consecutive sixes before Hales hit one more to finish the over with 19 runs.

In the next two overs, they whipped 17 and 14 runs respectively to bring up the fifty in five overs. Capitals bowlers were clueless on how to stop the flow of runs.

Mustafa raced to his fifty with a couple off Raja in 33 balls before falling being caught by Chopra in the same over as the Vipers lost their first wicket for 89. Mustafa knock was studded with four boundaries and three sixes.

Holder got rid of Hales, who missed his fifty by one run. He holed out to Van Der Merwe as Capitals got the second breakthrough.  The dismissal of Hales opened the floodgates for Capitals bowlers.

Vipers started losing the wickets in quick succession. They failed to capitalize on the opening stand and lost four wickets within a span of 11 runs. Pakistani wicket-keeper batsman Azam Khan failed to open his account and was taken by Warner off Chameera.

Sherfane Rutherford, the hero of the last match, was dismissed for a duck as Kuggeleijn got his first scalp of the day. He miscued a shot and the ball went up in air as Chopra took a sitter, Vipers were reduced from 115/1 to 127/5.

Suddenly, they looked set to get all out. They brought themselves into the mess by sheer poor selection of shots. From being in the drivers’ seat, they were struggling to find their foot on the ground.

Now they needed someone to play through till the end of the innings. Adam Hose and Wanindu Hasaranga added 36 runs for the sixth wicket to pull the Vipers out of rut.

They took the score to 163/5 before Hasaranga was found short of his crease. Kuggeleijn gave an accurate throw and Holder dismantled the bails in no time to break the dangerous-looking partnership. Hose remained unbeaten and belted three sixes and two boundaries in his 17-ball 35. Vipers reached a fighting total of 169/6.

Meanwhile, UAE players have shone brightly in this tourney. Led by captain Waseem Khan himself who plays for Gulf Giants, UAE players have done a commendable job in this tournament.

The DP World ILT20 also gives an opportunity for the UAE players to hone their skills by brushing their shoulders with the big boys like David Warner, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Colin Munro, Sam Billings and Ambati Rayudu to name a few.

They also get a chance to showcase their talent. Most of the UAE players have not disappointed their respective teams. In the last match between the two teams, Muhammed Jawadullah of the UAE picked up the prize wicket of Australian great Warner to push Capitals on the backfoot.Muhammad Rohid of MI Emirates took three wickets for 21 against Vipers on the other day.